Editing Tringa (section)

==Systematics and evolution==
[[File:WanderingTattler23.jpg|thumb|right|[[Wandering tattler]] (''Tringa incana''), formerly in ''Heteroscelus'']]
[[File:Catoptrophorus-semipalmatus-001.jpg|thumb|right|[[Willet]] (''Tringa semipalmata''), formerly in [[monotypic]] ''Catoptrophorus'']]
The shanks' and tattlers' closest relatives are [[sandpiper]]s of the genera ''[[Actitis]]'' and ''[[Terek sandpiper|Xenus]]''. Together with these, they are related to the [[phalaropes]], as well as the [[turnstone]]s and [[calidrid]]s.<ref name=vantuinenetal2004>van Tuinen ''et al.'' (2004)</ref> The large [[genus]] ''Tringa'' and the two very small genera which are most closely related form a [[phylogeny]] similar to the situation found in many other shorebird lineages such as [[calidrid]]s, [[snipe]]s and [[woodcock]]s, or [[gull]]s.

The same study<ref name=vantuinenetal2004 /> has indicated that some [[Morphology (biology)|morphological]] characters such as details of the [[furcula]] and [[pelvis]] have evolved [[convergent evolution|convergently]] and are no indicators of close relationship. Similarly, the leg/foot color wildly varies between close relatives, with the [[spotted redshank]], the [[greater yellowlegs]], and the [[common greenshank]] for example being more closely related among each other than to any other species in the group; the ancestral coloration of the legs and feet was fairly certainly drab buffish as in e.g. the [[green sandpiper]]. On the other hand, the molecular [[phylogeny]] reveals that the general habitus and size as well as the overall plumage pattern are good indicators of an evolutionary relationship in this group.

The [[Nordmann's greenshank]], a rare and [[endangered species]], was not available for molecular analyses. It is fairly aberrant and was formerly placed in the [[monotypic]] genus ''Pseudototanus''. It appears closest overall to the ''semipalmata-flavipes'' and the ''stagnatilis-totanus-glareola'' groups, though it also has some similarities to the [[greater yellowlegs]] and [[common greenshank]].

===Fossil record<ref name=Mlíkovský2002>Mlíkovský (2002)</ref>===
[[Fossil]] shanks are known since the [[Miocene]], possibly even since the [[Eocene|Eo-]]/[[Oligocene]] some 33-30 [[million years ago]] (mya) which would be far earlier than most extant genera of birds. However, it is uncertain whether ''Tringa edwardsi'' indeed belongs into the present-day genus or is a distinct, ancestral form. The time of the ''Tringa''-''[[Actitis]]''-''[[Xenus (bird)|Xenus]]''-''[[Phalaropus]]'' divergence has been tentatively dated at 22 mya, the beginning of the Miocene;<ref>Paton ''et al.'' (2003)</ref> even if the dating is largely conjectural, it suggests that ''T. edwardsi'' does indeed not belong into the modern genus. Molecular dating<ref>Pereira & Baker (2005)</ref>—which is not too reliable, however—indicates that the diversification into the known lineages occurred between 20 and 5 mya. The fossil record contains species formerly separated in ''Totanus'' from the Early Miocene onwards. Although these are usually known from very scant remains, the fact that apparently [[apomorph]]ic ''Tringa'' as well as a putative phalarope are known from about 23-22 mya indicates that the shank-phalarope group had already diverged into the modern genera by the start of the Miocene. The [[biogeography]] of living and fossil species—notably, the rarity of the latter in well-researched [[North America]]n sites—seems to suggest that ''Tringa'' originated in Eurasia. Time and place neatly coincide with the disappearance of the last vestiges of the [[Turgai Sea]], and this process may well have been a major factor in the separation of the genera in the shank-phalarope [[clade]]. Still, scolopacids are very similar osteologically, and many of the early fossils of presumed shanks require revaluation.<ref name=Mlíkovský2002 />
* ?''Tringa edwardsi'' (Quercy Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of Mouillac, France)
* ?''Tringa gracilis'' (Early Miocene of WC Europe) – [[calidrid]]?
* ?''Tringa lartetianus'' (Early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France)
* ''Tringa'' spp. (Early Miocene of Ravolzhausen, Germany – Early Pleistocene of Europe)<ref>Apparently at least three species at Stránská skála (Czech Republic, Early Pleistocene) for example: Mlíkovský (2002)</ref>
* ?''Tringa grivensis'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France)
* ?''Tringa majori'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France)<!-- Geobios2:157 -->
* ?''Tringa minor'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France) – includes ''"Erolia" ennouchii''; calidriid?<!-- Geobios2:157 -->
* ?''Tringa grigorescui'' (Middle Miocene of Ciobăniţa, Romania)
* ?''Tringa scarabellii'' (Late Miocene of Senigallia, Italy)
* ''Tringa'' sp. 1 (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA)
* ''Tringa'' sp. 2 (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA)
* ?''Tringa numenioides'' (Early Pliocene of Odesa, Ukraine)
* ''Tringa antiqua'' (Late Pliocene of Meade County, USA)
* ''Tringa ameghini'' (Late Pleistocene of Talara Tar Seeps, Peru)

''"Tringa" hoffmanni'' is now in ''[[Ludiortyx]]''. While its relationships are disputed, it was not a charadriiform.