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sterna

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Other uses}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = 2014-05-18 Sterna hirundo, Killingworth Lake, Northumberland 05.jpg

| image_caption = Sterna hirundo in Northumberland

| taxon = Sterna

| authority = Linnaeus, 1758

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = 13, see text

| type_species = Sterna hirundo

| type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758

}}

Sterna is a genus of terns in the bird family Laridae. The genus used to encompass most "white" terns indiscriminately, but mtDNA sequence comparisons have determined that this arrangement was paraphyletic. It is now restricted to the typical medium-sized white terns with deeply forked tails, which occur near-globally, mostly in coastal regions but several also using freshwater habitats inland.Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005). [http://www2.hawaii.edu/~khayes/Journal_Club/summer2006/Bridge_et_al_2005_MPE.pdf A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060720204025/http://www2.hawaii.edu/~khayes/Journal_Club/summer2006/Bridge_et_al_2005_MPE.pdf |date=2006-07-20 }}. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 459–469.

Taxonomy

The genus Sterna 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=137 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727042 }} The type species is the common tern (Sterna hirundo).{{ 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=331 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483144 }} Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn" which appears in the poem The Seafarer; a similar word was used to refer to terns by the Frisians.{{OED|Sterna}}

=Species=

The genus contains 13 species.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Noddies, gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, auks | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/gulls/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=16 August 2021 }}

class="wikitable"
ImageCommon NameScientific nameDistribution
120pxRiver ternSterna aurantiaInland rivers from Pakistan east through the Indian Subcontinent to Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia.
120pxForster's ternSterna forsteriNorth America.
120pxSnowy-crowned tern or Trudeau's ternSterna trudeauiArgentina, south-east Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
120pxArctic ternSterna paradisaeaArctic and Subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts).
120pxSouth American ternSterna hirundinaceaSouthern South America, including the Falkland Islands, ranging north to Peru (Pacific coast) and Brazil (Atlantic coast).
120pxAntarctic ternSterna vittataUruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Falkland Islands, the Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.
120pxKerguelen ternSterna virgataKerguelen Islands, the Prince Edward Islands (i.e. Prince Edward and Marion) and Crozet Islands.
120pxCommon ternSterna hirundoEastern North America, Europe, North Africa, Asia east to Siberia and Kazakhstan.
120pxWhite-cheeked ternSterna repressaCoasts on the Red Sea, around the Horn of Africa to Kenya, in the Persian Gulf and along the Iranian coast to Pakistan and western India.
120pxBlack-naped ternSterna sumatranaTropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
120pxRoseate ternSterna dougalliiAtlantic coasts of Europe and North America, and winters south to the Caribbean and west Africa; and subspecies from east Africa across the Indian Ocean to Japan, and in Australia and New Caledonia.
120pxWhite-fronted ternSterna striataNew Zealand and Australia.
120pxBlack-bellied ternSterna acuticaudaPakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh, with a separate range in Myanmar.

The following genera were formerly often included in Sterna:

  • Onychoprion (larger terns with white foreheads and dark backs)
  • Sternula (small terns mostly with white foreheads)
  • Thalasseus (large terns with crests)

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • {{Commons category-inline}}
  • {{Wikispecies-inline}}

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Category:Bird genera

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

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