Editing Larus (section)

==Ring species==
[[File:Ring species seagull.svg|thumb|300px|right|The ''Larus'' gulls formerly interpreted as a ring around the Arctic: 1. ''L. fuscus graellsii'' & ''L. f. intermedius''  ([[Lesser black-backed gull|Western European lesser black-backed gulls]]); 2. ''L. fuscus fuscus'' ([[Lesser black-backed gull|North East European lesser black-backed gull]]); 3. ''L. fuscus heuglini'' ([[Heuglin's gull]]); 4. ''L. vegae birulai'' ([[Vega gull|Birula's gull]]); 5. ''L. vegae'' sensu stricto ([[Vega gull]]); 6. ''L. smithsonianus'' ([[American herring gull]]); 7. ''L. argentatus'' ([[European herring gull]])]]

The circumpolar group of ''Larus'' gull species has often been cited as a classic example of the [[ring species]]. The range of these gulls forms a ring around the [[North Pole]]. The [[European herring gull]], which lives primarily in [[Great Britain]] and [[Northern Europe]], can [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridize]] with the [[American herring gull]] (living in North America), which can also interbreed with the [[Vega gull|Vega]] or East Siberian gull, the western subspecies of which, Birula's gull, can hybridize with [[Heuglin's gull]] which, in turn, can interbreed with the Siberian lesser black-backed gull (all four of these live across the north of [[Siberia]]). The last is the eastern representative of the [[lesser black-backed gull]]s back in northwestern Europe, including Great Britain. However, the lesser black-backed gulls and herring gull are sufficiently different that they rarely interbreed; thus, the group of gulls forms a continuum except in Europe, where the two lineages meet. However, a recent genetic study has shown that this example is far more complicated than presented here, and probably does not constitute a true ring species.<ref name=lieb>{{cite journal |last1=Liebers |first1=Dorit |last2=de Knijff |first2=Peter |name-list-style=amp |last3=Helbig |first3=Andreas J. |date=2004 |title=The herring gull complex is not a ring species |url= |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society#Proceedings of the Royal Society B|Proc. R. Soc. B]] |volume=271 |issue=#1542 |pages=893–901 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2004.2679|pmid=15255043 |pmc=1691675 }}[https://royalsocietypublishing.org/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1098%2Frspb.2004.2679&file=rspb20042679s01.pdf Supplemental material: Electronic appendices]</ref>