Editing Sterna (section)

==Taxonomy==
The [[genus]] ''Sterna'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]''.<ref>{{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 }}</ref> The type species is the [[common tern]] (''Sterna hirundo'').<ref>{{ 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 }}</ref> ''Sterna'' is derived from [[Old English]] "stearn" which appears in the poem ''[[The Seafarer (poem)|The Seafarer]]''; a similar word was used to refer to terns by the [[Frisians]].<ref name=OED>{{OED|Sterna}}</ref>

===Species===
The genus contains 13 species.<ref name=ioc>{{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 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Common Name !! Scientific name !! Distribution
|-
|[[File:IndianRiverTern.jpg|120px]] ||[[River tern]] || ''Sterna aurantia''|| Inland rivers from Pakistan east through the Indian Subcontinent to Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia.
|-
|[[File:Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) RWD1.jpg|120px]] ||[[Forster's tern]] || ''Sterna forsteri''|| North America.
|-
|[[File:Snowy-crowned Tern, Vicente López, Buenos Aires, Argentina 1.jpg|120px]] ||[[Snowy-crowned tern]] or Trudeau's tern ||''Sterna trudeaui''||Argentina, south-east Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.
|-
|[[File:Arctic Tern - Farne Is FJ0A4087 (35937283840).jpg|120px]] ||[[Arctic tern]] || ''Sterna paradisaea''||Arctic and Subarctic regions of Europe, Asia, and North America (as far south as Brittany and Massachusetts). 
|-
|[[File:Gaviotin Sudamericano (cropped).jpg|120px]] ||[[South American tern]] || ''Sterna hirundinacea''||Southern South America, including the Falkland Islands, ranging north to Peru (Pacific coast) and Brazil (Atlantic coast).
|-
|[[File:Sterna vittata - Antarctica V (cropped).jpg|120px]] ||[[Antarctic tern]] || ''Sterna vittata''||Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, the Falkland Islands, the Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, Australia, and New Zealand.
|-
|[[File:Sterne de Kerguelen.jpg|120px]] ||[[Kerguelen tern]] || ''Sterna virgata''||Kerguelen Islands, the Prince Edward Islands (i.e. Prince Edward and Marion) and Crozet Islands. 
|-
|[[File:2014-05-18 Sterna hirundo, Killingworth Lake, Northumberland 02.jpg|120px]] ||[[Common tern]] || ''Sterna hirundo''||Eastern North America, Europe, North Africa, Asia east to Siberia and Kazakhstan.
|-
|[[File:Sterna repressa, Wadi El-Gemal Reserve, Red Sea, Egypt 1.jpg|120px]] ||[[White-cheeked tern]] || ''Sterna repressa'' ||Coasts 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.
|-
|[[File:Black-naped Tern, Arborek, West Papua, Indonesia 1.jpg|120px]] ||[[Black-naped tern]] || ''Sterna sumatrana''|| Tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
|-
|[[File:2021-07-10 Sterna dougallii, St Marys Island, Northumberland 09.jpg|120px]] ||[[Roseate tern]] || ''Sterna dougallii''||Atlantic 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.
|-
|[[File:Sterna striata, Kaiaua, Firth Of Thames, Waikato, New Zealand 2.jpg|120px]] ||[[White-fronted tern]] || ''Sterna striata''||New Zealand and Australia.
|-
|[[File:Black Bellied Tern (cropped).jpg|120px]] ||[[Black-bellied tern]] || ''Sterna acuticauda'' ||Pakistan, Nepal, India and Bangladesh, with a separate range in Myanmar.
|-
|}

The following genera were formerly often included in ''Sterna'':<ref name=Bridge/>
*''[[Onychoprion]]'' (larger terns with white foreheads and dark backs)
*''[[Sternula]]'' (small terns mostly with white foreheads)
*''[[Thalasseus]]'' (large terns with crests)