Charadrius

Charadrius is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds. The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. They are found throughout the world.

Many Charadrius species are characterised by breast bands or collars. These can be (in the adult) single complete bands (ringed, semipalmated, little ringed, long-billed),or double or triple bands (killdeer, three-banded, Forbes').

They have relatively short bills and feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as do longer-billed waders like snipe.

Species of the genera Aegialites (or Aegialitis), Thinornis, and Elseyornis are now subsumed within Charadrius. The former genus name Thinornis combined the Ancient Greek this meaning "beach" or "sand" with ornis meaning "bird".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Taxonomy

The genus Charadrius was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name had been used (as Charadrios sive Hiaticula) by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi in 1603 for the common ringed plover.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The word is Late Latin and is mentioned in the Vulgate Bible. It derives from the Ancient Greek χαραδριος/kharadrios, an unidentified plain-coloured nocturnal bird that was found in ravines and river valleys (from kharadra, "ravine").Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The type species is the common ringed plover.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, it once appeared that the taxonomy of “Charadrius” was erroneous, as for example the Kentish plover is more closely related to lapwings than it is to, say, the greater ringed plover. Hence, either all members of Charadriidae, excluding Pluvialis are grouped in a single genus, Charadrius, or the genus is reduced to the Common ringed plover, Piping plover, Semipalmated plover, and Killdeer.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The latter option was chosen.

Species

The genus originally contained 33 species. However, in December 2023, The International Ornithologists' Union incorporated all species under Thinornis and Elseyornis into Charadrius, and some species of Charadrius are now placed in the genus Anarhynchus. As a result, Charadrius now consists of only 11 species:<ref>Template:IOC birdlist</ref>

• Killdeer Charadrius vociferus Template:Small
• Common ringed plover Charadrius hiaticula Template:Small
• Semipalmated plover Charadrius semipalmatus Template:Small
• Piping plover Charadrius melodus Template:Small
• Hooded plover Charadrius cucullatus Template:Small
• Forbes's plover Charadrius forbesi Template:Small
• Three-banded plover Charadrius tricollaris Template:Small
• Black-fronted dotterel Charadrius melanops Template:Small
• Shore plover Charadrius novaeseelandiae Template:Small
• Little ringed plover Charadrius dubius Template:Small
• Long-billed plover Charadrius placidus Template:Small

Another species, the Auckland Islands shore plover (Charadrius (Thinornis) rossii), known from just one specimen collected in 1840, is now generally considered to be a juvenile shore plover whose location was incorrectly recorded.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Gallery

• Black-fronted Dotterel 2 - Bow Bowing.jpg

  Black-fronted Dotterel (C. melanops)

• Semipalmatedplover-santafeisland.jpg

  Semipalmated plover (C. semipalmatus)

• Eggs of Three-banded Plover (Charadrius tricollaris) right in the middle of the S59 Road (11926451373).jpg

  Three-banded plover (C. tricollaris) eggs on open ground

• Little ringed plover - chick.jpg

  Little ringed plover (C. dubius) chick

Further reading

• Les Christidis, Walter Boles: Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing. 2008. Template:ISBN