Larus
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Distinguish|Laurus}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Larus
| image = Great Black Backed Gull Ireland's Eye.jpg
| image_caption = Great black-backed gull Larus marinus
| taxon = Larus
| type_species = Larus marinus
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
See list
}}
Larus is a large genus of gulls with worldwide distribution (by far the greatest species diversity is in the Northern Hemisphere).
Many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. Until about 2005–2007, most gulls were placed in this genus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of the genera Chroicocephalus, Ichthyaetus, Hydrocoloeus, and Leucophaeus for many other species formerly included in Larus.
They are in general medium-large birds, typically pale grey to black above and white below and on the head, often with black markings with white spots ("mirrors") on their wingtips and in a few species also some black on the tail. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet; in winter, the head is often streaked or smudged dark grey. The young birds are brown, and take three to five years to reach adult plumage, with subadult plumages intermediate between the young and adult.{{cite book |last1=Olsen |first1=Klaus Malling |last2=Larsen |first2=Hans |title=Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America |date=2003 |publisher=Helm |location=London |isbn=978-0-7136-7087-5}}
The taxonomy of the large gulls in the herring and lesser black-backed complex is complicated, with different authorities recognising from two species in the past, increasingly up to eight species more recently.
Taxonomy
The genus Larus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=136 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727041 }} The genus name is from Ancient Greek laros (λάῥος) or Latin larus, which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird.{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997 | url-access= limited | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page =[https://archive.org/details/helmdictionarysc00jobl_997/page/n219 219]}}
The type species is the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus).{{cite book | last=Selby | first=Prideaux John | author-link=Prideaux John Selby | year=1840 | title=A Catalogue of the Generic and Sub-Generic Types of the Class Aves, Birds, Arranged According to the Natural System | location=Newcastle | publisher=T. and J. Hodgson | pages=48–49 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/51542057 }}{{cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=313 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483126 }} The Latin name Larus marinus translates as "sea gull", and the gulls in this genus generally are the species most often known colloquially as "seagulls".
=Species=
{{Species table |genus=Larus |authority-name= Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |species-count=twenty five|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Pacific gull |binomial=Larus pacificus
|image=File:Larus pacificus - Derwent River Estuary.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Latham|authority-year= 1801 |authority-not-original=
|range= Australia.
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on
|L. p. pacificus Latham, 1801
|L. p. georgis King, 1826
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Belcher's gull or band-tailed gull |binomial=Larus belcheri
|image=File:Band-Tailed Gull (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vigors |authority-year=1829 |authority-not-original=
|range= the Pacific coast of South America.
|range-image=File:Larus belcheri map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Black-tailed gull|binomial=Larus crassirostris
|image=File:Larus crassirostris -Japan-8.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vieillot |authority-year=1818 |authority-not-original=
|range= coasts of the East China Sea, Japan, Manchuria and the Kuril Islands, to western Alaska in North America.
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Olrog's gull |binomial=Larus atlanticus
|image=File:Larus atlanticus1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Olrog |authority-year=1958 |authority-not-original=
|range= Atlantic coast of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina.
|range-image=File:Larus atlanticus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status=NT
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Heermann's gull|binomial=Larus heermanni
|image=File:Larus heermanni at Richardson Bay.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Cassin |authority-year=1852 |authority-not-original=
|range=Pacific coast of the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia.
|range-image=File:Larus heermanni distr.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= NT
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Common gull |binomial=Larus canus
|image=File:Larus canus winter plumage.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=
|range= northern Palearctic (northern Europe, northern Asia), wintering south to the Mediterranean and China.
|range-image=File:Larus canus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on
| L. c. canus – Linnaeus, 1758
| L. c. heinei – Homeyer, 1853
| L. c. kamtschatschensis – Bonaparte, 1857
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Short-billed gull or mew gull |binomial=Larus brachyrhynchus
|image=File:Mew Gull RWD1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Richardson|authority-year=1831 |authority-not-original=
|range= northwestern North America.
|range-image=File:Larus brachyrhynchus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Ring-billed gull |binomial=Larus delawarensis
|image=File:Larus-delawarensis-021.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Ord |authority-year=1815 |authority-not-original=
|range= Canada and the northern United States, wintering south to the Caribbean.
|range-image=File:Larus delawarensis map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Yellow-footed gull|binomial=Larus livens
|image=File:Larus livens 2910976.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Dwight |authority-year=1919 |authority-not-original=
|range= Gulf of California in Mexico.
|range-image=File:Larus livens map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Western gull |binomial=Larus occidentalis
|image=File:Larus occidentalis (Western Gull), Point Lobos, CA, US - May 2013.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Audubon|authority-year= 1839 |authority-not-original=
|range= from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico.
|range-image=File:Larus occidentalis map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Caspian gull |binomial=Larus cachinnans
|image=File:Larus cachinnans PKCS 2015-08-06 Amble, Northumberland 1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Pallas |authority-year=1811 |authority-not-original=
|range= Black and Caspian Seas and adjacent river basins, extending east into Central Asia; wintering west into Europe and south to the coasts of Arabia.
|range-image=File:LarusCachinnansIUCN2019-2.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Kelp gull (called southern black-backed gull or karoro in New Zealand) |binomial=Larus dominicanus
|image=File:Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus) -Hot Water Beach -NZ-8.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name= Lichtenstein, MHC|authority-year=1823 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Antarctic Peninsula, southern South America, southern Africa, Southern Ocean Islands, southeastern Australia, and New Zealand.
|range-image=File:Larus dominicanus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Five subspecies |bullets=on
|L. d. dominicanus, (Lichtenstein, 1823)
|L. d. vetula, (Bruch, 1853)
|L. d. judithae, (Jiguet, 2002)
|L. d. melisandae, (Jiguet, 2002)
|L. d. austrinus, (Fleming, 1924)
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= European herring gull|binomial=Larus argentatus
|image=File:Silbermöwe - Larus argentatus.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Pontoppidan |authority-year= 1763|authority-not-original=
|range= northern and northwestern Europe.
|range-image=File:Larus argentatus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on
| L. a. argentatus – Pontoppidan, 1763
| L. a. argenteus – Brehm & Schilling, 1822
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Vega gull (or East Siberian gull)|binomial=Larus vegae
|image=File:GULL, VEGA (9-5-08) Gambell, Ak -03 (2844589388).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Palmén |authority-year=1887 |authority-not-original=
|range= northeastern Siberia, wintering in Japan, Korea, southern and eastern China, and Taiwan.
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Mongolian gull|binomial=Larus mongolicus
|image=File:Восточносибирская чайка - Larus vegae mongolicus.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Sushkin|authority-year=1925 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Mongolia and southeastern Russia, wintering in Japan, Korea, southern and eastern China, and Taiwan.
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Yellow-legged gull|binomial=Larus michahellis
|image=File:Gaivota-Ferragudo.JPG|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Naumann |authority-year=1840 |authority-not-original=
|range=Mediterranean Sea and Macaronesia, dispersing north as far as the British Isles after breeding.
|range-image=File:Larus michahellis map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on
| L. m. michahellis Naumann, 1840
| L. m. atlantis (Dwight, 1922), syn. Larus fuscus atlantis, Dwight, 1922
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Armenian gull|binomial=Larus armenicus
|image=File:Armenian gull near Sevanavank, side view.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Buturlin |authority-year=1934 |authority-not-original=
|range= interior Turkey, the Caucasus and the Middle East, wintering in the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
|range-image=File:Larus armenicus range.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Great black-backed gull |binomial=Larus marinus
|image=File:Great Black-backed Gull Larus marinus.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=
|range= northwest European coasts, northeast North American coasts, and islands of the North Atlantic.
|range-image=File:RangeMap Lmarinus.jpg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Glaucous gull|binomial=Larus hyperboreus
|image=File:Glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) with offspring, Liefdefjord, Svalbard.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Gunnerus|authority-year= 1767 |authority-not-original=
|range= Arctic Ocean coasts, wintering in the North Atlantic and North Pacific as far south as the British Isles and northernmost states of the United States, also on the Great Lakes.
|range-image=File:Larus hyperboreus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Four subspecies |bullets=on
| L. h. hyperboreus, Gunnerus, 1767
| L. h. pallidissimus, Portenko, 1939
| L. h. barrovianus, Ridgway, 1886
| L. h. leuceretes, Schleep, 1819
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Lesser black-backed gull |binomial=Larus fuscus
|image=File:Larus-fuscus-taxbox.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=
|range= Atlantic coasts of Europe and northwest Asia, wintering south to central Africa and India.
|range-image=File:Larus fuscus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Five subspecies |bullets=on
|L. f. graellsii Brehm, 1857
|L. f. intermedius Schiøler, 1922
|L. f. fuscus Linnaeus, 1758
|L. f. heuglini Bree, 1876
|L. f. barabensis Johansen, 1960
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=California gull |binomial=Larus californicus
|image=File:California Gull 7594 (Larus californicus).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Lawrence |authority-year=1854 |authority-not-original=
|range= western interior North America from the Northwest Territories, Canada south to eastern California and Colorado, wintering south to western Mexico.
|range-image=File:Larus californicus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on
| L. c. californicus {{Taxobox_authority | author = Lawrence | date = 1854}}
| L. c. albertaensis {{Taxobox_authority | author = Jehl | date = 1987}}
}}
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=American herring gull |binomial=Larus smithsonianus
|image=File:American Herring Gull - natures pics.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Coues |authority-year=1862 |authority-not-original=
|range= North America from central and southern Alaska to the Great Lakes and northeast coast of the United States from Maine south to North Carolina, wintering south to the Caribbean.
|range-image=File:Larus smithsonianus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Glaucous-winged gull |binomial=Larus glaucescens
|image=File:Glaucous-winged Gull RWD1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Naumann |authority-year= 1840|authority-not-original=
|range= Pacific Ocean coasts of Russia and Alaska to the coast of Washington, wintering south to Japan and northwest Mexico.
|range-image=File:Larus glaucescens map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=Slaty-backed gull |binomial=Larus schistisagus
|image=File:Ooseguro-kamome.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Stejneger|authority-year= 1884|authority-not-original=
|range= northeastern coasts of Asia, wintering south to eastern China.
|range-image=File:Larus schistisagus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name= Iceland gull|binomial=Larus glaucoides
|image=File:Adult Larus glaucoides, Swallow Pond 2.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Meyer, B|authority-year= 1822 |authority-not-original=
|range= Arctic Ocean coasts of Canada and Greenland, wintering from Iceland south to the British Isles and the far northeast USA, with subspecies thayeri wintering on the Pacific coast of North America.
|range-image=File:Larus glaucoides map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on
|L. g. glaucoides {{small|Meyer, 1822}}
|L. g. kumlieni {{small|Brewster, 1883}}
|L. g. thayeri {{small|Brooks, WS, 1915}}
}}
}}
{{Species table/end}}
==Fossils==
Fossils of Larus gulls are known from the Middle Miocene, about 20-15 million years ago; allocation of earlier fossils to this genus is generally rejected. Biogeography of the fossil record suggests that the genus evolved in the northern Atlantic and spread globally during the Pliocene, when species diversity seems to have been highest, as with most seabirds.
- Larus sp. (Middle Miocene of Grund, Austria)
- Larus sp. (Middle Miocene of Romania)Olson, Storrs L. (1985): Section X.D.2.j. Laridae. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 181-182. Academic Press, New York.
- Larus sp. (Late? Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, U.S.) - several species
- Larus elmorei (Middle Pliocene of Bone Valley, southeastern U.S.)
- Larus lacus (Late Pliocene of Pinecrest, southeastern U.S.)
- Larus perpetuus (Pliocene of southeastern U.S.)
- Larus sp. (San Diego Late Pliocene of the southwestern U.S.)
- Larus oregonus (Late Pliocene - Late Pleistocene of the west-central U.S.)
- Larus robustus (Late Pliocene - Late Pleistocene of the west-central U.S.)
- Larus sp. (Late Pleistocene of Lake Manix western U.S.)
"Larus" raemdonckii (Early Oligocene of Belgium) is now at least tentatively believed to belong in the procellariiform genus Puffinus. "L." elegans (Late Oligocene?/Early Miocene of St-Gérand-le-Puy, France) and "L." totanoides (Late Oligocene?/Early Miocene of southeastern France) are now in Laricola, while "L." dolnicensis (Early Miocene of the Czech Republic) was actually a pratincole; it is now placed in Mioglareola.
The Early Miocene "Larus" desnoyersii (southeastern France) and "L." pristinus (John Day Formation, Willow Creek, U.S.) probably do not belong in this genus; the former may be a skua.(Olson, 1985).
Ring species
File:Ring species seagull.svg); 2. L. fuscus fuscus (North East European lesser black-backed gull); 3. L. fuscus heuglini (Heuglin's gull); 4. L. vegae birulai (Birula's gull); 5. L. vegae sensu stricto (Vega gull); 6. L. smithsonianus (American herring gull); 7. L. argentatus (European herring gull)]]
The circumpolar group of Larus gull species has often been cited as a classic example of the ring species. The range of these gulls forms a ring around the North Pole. The European herring gull, which lives primarily in Great Britain and Northern Europe, can hybridize with the American herring gull (living in North America), which can also interbreed with the Vega or East Siberian gull, the western subspecies of which, Birula's gull, can hybridize with Heuglin's gull which, in turn, can interbreed with the Siberian lesser black-backed gull (all four of these live across the north of Siberia). The last is the eastern representative of the lesser black-backed gulls back in northwestern Europe, including Great Britain. However, the lesser black-backed gulls and herring gull are sufficiently different that they rarely interbreed; thus, the group of gulls forms a continuum except in Europe, where the two lineages meet. However, a recent genetic study has shown that this example is far more complicated than presented here, and probably does not constitute a true ring species.{{cite journal |last1=Liebers |first1=Dorit |last2=de Knijff |first2=Peter |name-list-style=amp |last3=Helbig |first3=Andreas J. |date=2004 |title=The herring gull complex is not a ring species |url= |journal=Proc. R. Soc. B |volume=271 |issue=#1542 |pages=893–901 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2679|pmid=15255043 |pmc=1691675 }}[https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1098%2Frspb.2004.2679&file=rspb20042679s01.pdf Supplemental material: Electronic appendices]
See also
References
{{Commons category}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Gulls}}
{{Charadriiformes|L.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1887740}}
{{Authority control}}