Editing Lapwing (section)

===Evolution===
{{listen | pos = right | filename = Carrington moss birch road.ogg | title = "Birdsong at Carrington Moss" | description = A lapwing and a [[common chaffinch|chaffinch]] at [[Carrington Moss]], in [[England]] | format = [[Ogg]] }}
The [[fossil]] record of the Vanellinae is scant and mostly recent in origin; no [[Neogene]] lapwings seem to be known. On the other hand, it appears as if early in their [[evolution]]ary history the plovers, lapwings and dotterels must have been almost one and the same, and they are hard to distinguish [[osteological]]ly even today. Thus, since the Red-kneed Dotterel is so distinct that it might arguably be considered a [[monotypic]] subfamily, reliably dating its divergence from a selection of true lapwings and plovers would also give a good idea of [[Charadriidae|charadriid wader]] evolution altogether.

A mid-[[Oligocene]] – c.28 mya ([[million years ago]]) – fossil from [[Rupelmonde]] in [[Belgium]] has been assigned to ''Vanellus'', but even if the genus were broadly defined, it is entirely unclear if the placement is correct. Its age ties in with the appearance of the first seemingly distinct Charadriinae at about the same time, and with the presence of more [[basal (evolution)|basal]] Charadriidae a few million years earlier. However, the assignment of fragmentary fossils to Charadriinae or Vanellinae is not easy. Thus, it is very likely that the charadriid waders originate around the [[Eocene]]-Oligocene boundary – roughly 40–30 mya – but nothing more can be said at present. If the Belgian fossil is not a true lapwing, there are actually no Vanellinae fossils known before the [[Quaternary]].<ref>Piersma & Wiersma (1996), Mlíkovský (2002)</ref>

The [[Early Oligocene]] fossil ''[[Dolicopterus]]''<ref>Not ''[[Dolichopterus]]'', ''contra'' Mlíkovský (2002)</ref> from [[Ronzon, France]] may be such an ancestral member of the Charadriidae or even the Vanellinae, but it has not been studied in recent decades and is in dire need of review.<ref>Mlíkovský (2002)</ref>

Apart from the [[prehistoric]] ''Vanellus'', the [[extinct]] lapwing genus ''[[Viator (bird)|Viator]]'' has been described from fossils. Its remains were found in the [[tar pit]]s of [[Talara]] in [[Peru]] and it lived in the [[Late Pleistocene]]. Little is known of this rather large lapwing; it may actually belong in ''Vanellus''.<ref>Campbell (2002)</ref>

The remaining [[Wader|Charadrii]] are highset and/or chunky birds, even decidedly larger than a lot of the [[Scolopacidae|scolopacid waders]]. The evolutionary trend regarding the Charadriidae – which make up most of the diversity of the Charadrii – thus runs contrary to [[Cope's rule|Cope's Rule]].<ref name = hbw />