Chroicocephalus
Chroicocephalus | |
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Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Laridae |
Genus: | Chroicocephalus Eyton, 1836 |
Type species | |
Larus capistratus Temminck, 1820 = Larus ridibundus Linnaeus, 1766 | |
Species | |
See list |
Chroicocephalus is a genus of medium to relatively small gulls which were included in the genus Larus until genetic evidence published in 2005 showed that Larus as then constituted was paraphyletic. Ten species are currently accepted. The genus name Chroicocephalus is from Ancient Greek khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head".
Taxonomy
[edit]The species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Larus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005 found that Larus, as then constituted, was paraphyletic.[1] In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the genus Chroicocephalus with resurrected to contain a clade of species, all of which have black heads.[2] The genus Chroicocephalus had been introduced in 1836 by the English naturalist Thomas Campbell Eyton. Although he listed two species in the new genus, he did not specify a type.[3] In 1840 George Gray designated the type as Larus capistratus which had been described by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1820.[4] This taxa is now considered to be a junior synonym of Larus ridibundus, the black-headed gull, that had been named in 1766 by Carl Linnaeus.[5] The genus name Chroicocephalus combines the Ancient Greek χρωικος/khrōikos meaning "coloured" with -κεφαλος /-kephalos meaning "-headed".[6]
Saunders's gull was formerly included in this genus until a 2022 study demonstrated that although it occupied a basal position in the genus, it was not closely related to the other members. It is now placed in its own genus Saundersilarus.[2][7]
Description
[edit]The species range from 28 cm up to 48 cm long, with Bonaparte's gull being the smallest, and Andean gull the largest. In all species, the body and tail are white, and the upperwing pale grey; the wingtips have distinct grey, white, and black patterns important for identification. Several have distinctively brown, pale grey, or blackish-grey coloured heads in the breeding season, but some also have the head pure white like the rest of the body. The eyes are dark in some species, or with a distinctive white iris in others; the legs and bills are bright to very dark red.[8]
Representatives of this genus are found in regions/subregions all over the world, except for Antarctica; the species are often parapatric, but with two species together in New Zealand, the Mediterranean region, parts of southern Africa, and parts of South America. Exceptionally, three species (black-headed, brown-headed, and slender-billed gulls) can occur together in parts of southwest Asia.[8]
Species
[edit]The genus contains ten species.[2]
Image | Common Name | Scientific name | Breeding range |
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Slender-billed gull | Chroicocephalus genei | south Iberian Peninsula, south Europe, Black and Caspian Seas and Turkey to Central Asia, Pakistan and coastal far northwest India; Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia |
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Bonaparte's gull | Chroicocephalus philadelphia | Boreal forest zone from southwest Alaska mainland and northwest, southwest Canada to east Quebec |
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Silver gull | Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae | Inland south Australia and coastal throughout Australia; coastal New Zealand and outlying islands and New Caledonia |
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Black-billed gull | Chroicocephalus bulleri | Mostly on braided rivers, North and South Islands of New Zealand |
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Andean gull | Chroicocephalus serranus | Andes of far southwest Colombia to south central Chile and southwest Argentina |
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Brown-hooded gull | Chroicocephalus maculipennis | Inland and coastal southeast Brazil, central Chile, north central Argentina and Falkland Islands |
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Black-headed gull | Chroicocephalus ridibundus | Coastal far south Greenland, inland Iceland, temperate and subarctic west Europe across Russia to Yakutsk region, Kamchatka Peninsula, Sakhalin (east Russia); in south through Caspian Sea, north Central Asia, north, central Mongolia and northeast China; also west central Newfoundland |
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Brown-headed gull | Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus | Inland Tibetan Plateau of Tajikistan, Xinjiang (west China), Ladakh (far northwest India) and Tibet |
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Grey-headed gull | Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus | Coastal and inland Africa south of the Sahara and Madagascar; coastal Ecuador and Peru; south Uruguay and northeast Argentina to Santa Fe, Argentina |
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Hartlaub's gull | Chroicocephalus hartlaubii | Coastal central Namibia to Western Cape, south Africa |
Fossils
[edit]- Huahine gull †Chroicocephalus utunui -French Polynesia.
References
[edit]- ^ Pons, J.-M.; Hassanin, A.; Crochet, P.-A. (2005). "Phylogenetic relationships within the Laridae (Charadriiformes: Aves) inferred from mitochondrial markers". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 37 (3): 686–699. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.05.011.
- ^ a b c Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (February 2025). "Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks". IOC World Bird List Version 15.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 5 June 2025.
- ^ Eyton, Thomas Campbell (1836). A History of the Rarer British Birds. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman. p. 58. The pagination restarts for the second half of the book with the title A Catalogue of British Birds. This arrangement is indicated in the table of contents at the beginning of the first half of the book. The list of species placed in Chroicocephalus begins on page 53 of the Catalogue.
- ^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 79.
- ^ Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
- ^ Jobling, James A. "Chroicocephalus". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 4 June 2025.
- ^ Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 177: 107620. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620.
- ^ a b Hoyo, Josep del (2020). All the birds of the world. Barcelona: Lynx edicions. ISBN 978-84-16728-37-4.