Editing Rynchops

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| name = Skimmers
| image = Black skimmer (Rynchops niger) in flight.jpg
| image_caption = [[Black skimmer]] (''R. niger'') skimming
| taxon = Rynchops 
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]
| type_species = ''Rynchops niger'' ([[black skimmer]])
| type_species_authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
*[[Black skimmer]] (''R. niger'')
*[[African skimmer]] (''R. flavirostris'')
*[[Indian skimmer]] (''R. albicollis'')
}}

The '''skimmers''', forming the [[genus]] '''''Rynchops''''', are [[tern]]-like birds in the [[family (Biology)|family]] [[Laridae]]. The genus comprises three species found in [[South Asia]], [[Africa]], and the [[Americas]]. They were formerly known as the '''scissorbills'''.<ref>{{cite OED|scissorbill}}.</ref>
==Description==
The three species are the only birds with distinctive uneven [[beak|bills]], where the [[lower mandible]] is longer than the [[upper mandible|upper]].{{cn|date=January 2023}} This remarkable adaptation allows them to fish in a unique way, flying low and fast over streams.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Mariano-Jelicich | first1=Rocío | last2=Favero | first2=Marco | last3=Silva | first3=María | title=Fish Prey Of The Black Skimmer ''Rynchops Niger'' At Mar Chiquita, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina | journal=Marine Ornithology | volume=31 | issue=2 | date=2003 | issn=1018-3337 | doi=10.5038/2074-1235.31.2.581 | url=http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/31_2/31_2_199-202.pdf }}</ref> Their lower mandible skims or slices over the water's surface, ready to snap shut any small fish unable to dart clear. The skimmers are sometimes included within the gull family Laridae but separated in other treatments which consider them as a sister group of the [[tern]]s.<ref>{{cite journal| title= Multilocus perspectives on the monophyly and phylogeny of the order Charadriiformes (Aves)|author1=Fain MG |author2=Peter Houde |name-list-style=amp |journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology |year= 2007 |volume=7|issue=1 | page=35 |doi= 10.1186/1471-2148-7-35|pmid=17346347| pmc= 1838420 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2007BMCEE...7...35F }}</ref> The black skimmer has an additional adaptation and is the only species of bird known to have slit-shaped [[pupils]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Zusi | first1=Richard L. | last2=Bridge | first2=David | title=On the Slit Pupil of the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) | journal=Journal of Field Ornithology | publisher=[Association of Field Ornithologists, Wiley] | volume=52 | issue=4 | year=1981 | issn=0273-8570 | jstor=27639259 | pages=338–340 | url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jfo/v052n04/p0338-p0340.pdf}}</ref> the forehead, ends of the secondaries, tail feathers and under parts are white, the rest of the plumage is black and the basal half of the bill is crimson.<ref>{{cite book| last=Reed | first=Chester A. | title=The Bird Book: Illustrating in natural colors more than seven hundred North American birds; also several hundred photographs of their nests and eggs. | via=Project Gutenberg | year=1914 | chapter-url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/30000/pg30000-images.html#Page_58 |page=58 |chapter=SKIMMERS. Family RYNCHOPIDÆ}}</ref> Their bills fall within their field of binocular vision, which enables them to carefully position their bill and capture prey.<ref>{{cite journal |year=2007 |title=Vision and the foraging technique of Skimmers (Rynchopidae)|journal=Ibis |volume=149|pages=750–757| last1=Martin | first1=Graham R. | last2=Mcneil | first2=Raymond | last3=Rojas | first3=Luz Marina |doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00706.x |issue=4}}</ref> They are agile in flight and gather in large flocks along rivers and coastal sand banks.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Fusco |first=P.J. |url=http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/pdf_files/outreach/connecticut_wildlife_magazine/cwmj06.pdf |magazine=Connecticut Wildlife |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914073214/http://ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/wildlife/pdf_files/outreach/connecticut_wildlife_magazine/cwmj06.pdf |archive-date=2009-09-14 |publisher=Connecticut Department of Environment Protection Bureau of Natural Resources – Wildlife Division |date=May–June 2006 |accessdate=2009-06-29 |page=10 |title=Spectacular and Intriguing - The Black Skimmer}}</ref>

They are tropical and subtropical species which lay 3–6 eggs on sandy beaches. The female incubates the eggs. Because of the species' restricted nesting habitat the three species are vulnerable to disturbance at their nesting sites. One species, the [[Indian skimmer]], is considered [[Endangered species|endangered]] by the [[IUCN]] due to this as well as destruction and degradation of the lakes and rivers it uses for feeding.<ref>{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International. |year=2020 |title=''Rynchops albicollis'' |volume=2020 |page=e.T22694268A178970109 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22694268A178970109.en |access-date=20 May 2025}}</ref>

==Taxonomy==
The [[genus]] ''Rynchops'' 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=138 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727043}}</ref>{{efn|Linnaeus also used the spelling ''Rhyncops''.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1=David | first1=N. | last2=Dickinson | first2=E. | last3=Gregory | first3=S. | date=2009 | title=Contributions to a list of first reviser actions: ornithology | journal=Zootaxa | volume=2085 | issue=1 | pages=1–24 | doi=10.11646/zootaxa.2085.1.1 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268076883}}</ref>}} The genus name ''Rynchops'' is from the [[Ancient Greek]] ῥυνχος/''rhunkhos'' meaning "bill" and κοπτω/''koptō'' meaning "to cut off".<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=344}}</ref> The [[type species]] is the [[black skimmer]] (''Rynchops niger'').<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=349 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14483162}}</ref>

As in later editions of the works of [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], the correct spelling (from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] words {{lang|grc|ῥύνχος}} and {{lang|grc|ὤψ}}, together meaning "beak-face") should be ''rhynchops'' and this is often adopted. However, the misspelling ''rynchops'' was the one first published by Linnaeus and continues to be more commonly used.<ref>{{cite journal|title= Comment on the gender of names ending in ''-ops''| journal=Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature |volume= 24| issue=1|page=2 | year= 1967 |url=https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofzoolog24inte#page/2/mode/1up/|author=Amaral, A do}}</ref> Similarly, the gender of the Greek and Roman words is feminine and the genus was originally treated as such (''R. nigra'') but ''Rynchops'' is now usually treated as a masculine noun (''R. niger'').

===Species===
The genus contains three species.<ref>{{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>
{{Species table |genus=Rynchops |authority-name=[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]]|authority-year= [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]] |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row
|name=Black skimmer|binomial=[[Rynchops niger]]
|image=File:Black_Skimmer_Close_Flying.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year= 1758|authority-not-original=
|range= Atlantic coast of North America, and from southern California to Peru in the Pacific, the Amazon basin, Atlantic coast of South America south to central Argentina
|range-image=File:Rynchops niger map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=about 40–50 cm (16–20 in) long, with a 107–127 cm (42–50 in) wingspan.
|habitat=sandbanks and sandy beaches in the Americas.
|hunting=fish prey species include ''[[Odontesthes argentinenesis]]'', ''[[Brevoortia aurea]]'', ''[[Anchoa marinii]]'', ''[[Lycengraulis grossidens]]'', ''[[Engraulis anchoita]]'', ''[[Pomatomus saltatrix]]'', ''[[Mugil cephalus]]'', ''[[Fundulus heteroclitus]]'', ''[[Anchoa mitchilli]]'', and ''[[Odontesthes incisa]]''.
|iucn-status=LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies<ref>{{cite web | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2019 | title=Noddies, gulls, terns, auks | work=World Bird List Version 9.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/gulls/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=24 June 2019 | archive-date=8 August 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808171159/https://www.worldbirdnames.org/BOW/gulls/ | url-status=live}}</ref> |bullets=on
|''R. n. niger'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])</small>
|''R. n. cinerascens'' <small>([[Johann Baptist von Spix|von Spix]], 1825)</small>
|''R. n. intercedens'' <small>(Saunders, 1895)</small>
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=African skimmer|binomial=[[Rynchops flavirostris]]
|image=File:Rynchops_flavirostris.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Vieillot|authority-year= 1816|authority-not-original=
|range=Senegal to northern Congo River and southern Nile Valley, southern Tanzania to the Zambezi Valley, and then to KwaZulu-Natal Province (South Africa) and Angola
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=about 38 cm (15 in) long, with a wingspan of 106 cm (41.7 in).
|habitat=large tropical rivers with sandbanks for nesting and roosting, lake shores, and coastal lagoons.
|hunting=mainly of fish, including ''[[Tilapia]]'', ''[[Barbus]]'', ''[[Micralestes]]'', ''[[Hepsetus]]'', ''[[Aplocheilichthys]]'', and ''[[Petrocephalus]]''.
|iucn-status=LC
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name=Indian skimmer|binomial=[[Rynchops albicollis]]
|image=File:Skimmer1.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Swainson|authority-year= 1838|authority-not-original=
|range= Pakistan in the Indus river system of Kashmir and northern and central India along the Ganges, Bangladesh and Burma and formerly occurred in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
|range-image=
|range-image-size=180px
|size=about 40–43 cm (15.7-16.9 in) long, with a wingspan of 108 cm (42.5 in).
|habitat=large rivers and lakes, swamps and coastal wetlands such as estuaries.
|hunting=mainly fish but also small crustaceans and insect larvae.
|iucn-status=EN
|population=
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}
{{Species table/end}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Rynchops}}
*[http://ibc.lynxeds.com/family/skimmers-rynchopidae Skimmer videos] on the Internet Bird Collection

{{Charadriiformes|L.|state=collapsed}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q212941}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Rynchops| ]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]