Turnstone
{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Arenaria interpres.jpg
| image_caption = Ruddy turnstone in nonbreeding plumage
| image2 = Arenaria melanocephala.jpg
| image2_caption = Black turnstone in winter plumage
| taxon = Arenaria (bird)
| synonyms = {{Species list
|Arenarius|Dumont, 1805
|Morinella|Meyer in Meyer & Wolf, 1810
|Strepsialis|Hay, 1841
|Strepsilas|Illiger, 1811
|Strepsilus|Nuttall, 1834
|Stripsilas|Stephens in Shaw, 1819
|Stripselas|Stephens in Shaw, 1819
}}
| authority = Brisson, 1760
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
| type_species = Tringa interpres
| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
}}
Turnstones are two bird species that constitute the genus Arenaria in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini.
The genus Arenaria was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) as the type species.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | language=French, Latin | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010447 Vol. 1, p. 48], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36294414 Vol. 5, p. 132] | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche }}{{ 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 | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=271 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483084 }} The genus name arenaria is from Latin arenarius, "inhabiting sand", from arena, "sand".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n54 54]}}
The genus contains two species: the ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres) and the black turnstone (Arenaria melanocephala).{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Buttonquail, plovers, seedsnipe, sandpipers | work=World Bird List Version 9.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/buttonquail/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=2 April 2019 }} Both birds are waders. Their length is typically between 20 and 25 cm, with a wingspan between 50 and 60 cm and a body mass between 110 and 130g. For waders their build is stocky, with short, slightly upturned, wedge shaped bills. They have white patches on the back, wings and tail. They are high Arctic breeders, and are migratory. Their strong necks and powerful, slightly upturned bills are adapted to their feeding technique. As the name implies, these species overturn stones, seaweed, and similar items in search of invertebrate prey.Svensson, Lars et al. Collins Bird Guide 2nd ed. Publisher: Collins 2010. {{ISBN|978-0007268146}} They are strictly coastal, prefer stony beaches to sand, and often share beach space with other species of waders such as purple sandpipers.
Species
{{Species table |genus= Arenaria |authority-name=Brisson |authority-year=1760 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}
{{Species table/row
|name=ruddy turnstone |binomial=Arenaria interpres
|image=File:Arenaria interpres (habitus).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption= Breeding plumage
|image2 =File:Arenaria interpres SK.jpg|image2-caption=Non-Breeding plumage
|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= circumpolar distribution, and is a very long distance migrant, wintering on coasts as far south as South Africa and Australia.
|range-image=File:Arenaria interpres map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=It is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. In breeding plumage, this is a showy bird, with a black-and-white head, chestnut back, white underparts and red legs. The drabber winter plumage is basically brown above and white below.
|habitat=On coasts almost everywhere in the world
|hunting=This is a generally tame bird and is an opportunist feeder. Unlike most waders, it will scavenge, and has a phenomenal list of recorded food items, including human corpses and coconut. The call is a staccato tuck- tuck- tuck.
|iucn-status=NT
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/row
|name=black turnstone |binomial=Arenaria melanocephala
|image=File:Arenaria melanocephala1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vigors |authority-year=1829 |authority-not-original=yes
|range= Breeding in western Alaska, and wintering mainly on the Pacific coast of the United States.
|range-image=File:Arenaria melanocephala map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=Black upperparts and chest, and white below.
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/end}}
There exists a fossil bone, a distal piece of tarsometatarsus found in the Edson Beds of Sherman County, Kansas. Dating from the mid-Blancan some 4-3 million years ago, it appears to be from a calidriid somewhat similar to a pectoral sandpiper, but has some traits reminiscent of turnstones. Depending on which traits are apomorphic and plesiomorphic, it may be an ancestral representative of either lineage.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
{{cite journal|author=Wetmore, Alexander|year=1937|title= The Eared Grebe and other Birds from the Pliocene of Kansas|journal=Condor|volume=39|issue=1|pages= 40|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/condor/v039n01/p0040-p0040.pdf|doi=10.2307/1363487|jstor=1363487 }}
}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikispecies|Corvus capensis}}
- Ruddy turnstone = turnstone - [http://sabap2.adu.org.za/docs/sabap1/262.pdf Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds]
- [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Ruddy_Turnstone.html Ruddy turnstone] – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
- [http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/i2830id.html Ruddy turnstone Arenaria interpres] – USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCenter
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbBzJ8xLpSY Turnstones feeding and bathing]
{{Scolopacidae|1}}
{{Charadriiformes|S.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4865776}}