Sternula

Sternula is a genus of small white terns. It is often subsumed into the larger genus Sterna, although the most recent changes to the AOU checklist considers it a separate genus.[1] The genus name is a diminutive of Sterna, "tern".[2]

Sternula
Little tern
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Subfamily: Sterninae
Genus: Sternula
F. Boie, 1822
Species

7, see text

Species

Listed alphabetically.[3]

ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
Little ternSternula albifronstemperate and tropical Europe and Asia.
Least ternSternula antillarumNorth America and locally in northern South America.
Damara ternSternula balaenarumsouthern Africa and migrates to tropical African coasts
Peruvian ternSternula lorataChile, Ecuador, and Peru
Fairy ternSternula nereisAustralia, New Caledonia,northern New Zealand
Saunders's ternSternula saundersinorth-western Indian Ocean
Yellow-billed ternSternula superciliarisArgentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Saunders's and least terns were both formerly considered to be subspecies of little tern.

References
  1. Banks et al. 2007. Forty-eighth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Checklist of North American Birds. The Auk 124(1): 1109-1115.
  2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 365. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. Shorebirds & allies, IOC World Bird List, ver.3.2.
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