little white tern
{{Short description|Species of seabird}}
{{contradicts|Gygis candida}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Little white tern
| image = Kiribati(067).JPG
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| taxon = Gygis microrhyncha
| authority = Saunders, 1876
}}
The little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha) is a small seabird found in French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati. This species was previously considered a subspecies of the white tern (Gygis alba microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species.{{Cite book|last1=del Hoyo|first1=J|title=HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines.|last2=Collar|first2=N.J.|last3=Christie|first3=D.A.|last4=Elliott|first4=A.|last5=Fishpool|first5=L.D.C.|publisher=Lynx Edicions BirdLife International|year=2014|location=Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.}}
Taxonomy
The little white tern was first formally described by the British ornithologist Howard Saunders in 1876 under the binomial name Gygis microrhyncha{{Cite journal|last=Saunders|first=Howard|date=1876|title=On the Sterninæ, or Terns, with Descriptions of Three New Species|journal=Proceedings of the Zoological Society|volume=44|pages=638–672|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1876.tb02598.x|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/73610 }} meaning small (micro) bill (rhyncha). There are no recognized subspecies. Some authors have postulated that there may be three species of Gygis: Gygis alba, in the Atlantic Ocean, and Gygis candida and Gygis microrhyncha, both in the Pacific.
Description
The little white tern is much smaller and has a more slender bill than any subspecies of the common white tern.{{Cite journal|last=Olson|first=Storrs L|date=2005|title=First occurrence of Gygis microrhyncha in the Hawaiian Islands|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=125|pages=155–157}} It has been described as a "compact, goggle-eyed bird with shorter, more rounded wings and less deeply forked tail" when compared to Gygis alba.{{Cite journal|last=Pratt|first=H. Douglas|date=2020|title=Species limits and English names in the genus Gygis (Laridae)|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=140|issue=2|pages=195–208|doi=10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a10|issn=0007-1595|doi-access=free}} The calamus or 'quill' of the feather in the little white tern are notably white compared to black calamus found in common white terns.{{Cite journal|last=Tristram|first=H.B.|date=1881|title=Notes on a Collection of Birds from the Marquesas Islands|journal=Ibis|volume=23|issue=2|pages=249–253|doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1881.tb06022.x|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/partpdf/402594}}
Distribution and habitat
The little white tern ranges throughout French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati, including the Phoenix and Line Islands,{{Cite web|title=Gygis microrhyncha (Little White Tern) - Avibase|url=https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?avibaseid=850AB2F16CE72DB3|access-date=2021-05-04|website=avibase.bsc-eoc.org}} and was first described from three specimens from the Marquesas Islands.