Lari (bird)

Lari
Temporal range: Eocene-Holocene, 35–0 Ma
Atlantic yellow-legged gull
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Suborder: Lari
Sharpe, 1891
Families
Greater crested tern displaying in Tasmania.

The suborder Lari is the part of the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns, skuas and skimmers; the rest of the order is made up of the waders and snipes. The auks are now placed into the Lari too, following recent research. [1] Sometimes, the buttonquails are also placed here, but the molecular data and fossil record rather suggests they are a quite basal offshoot along with the snipe-like and aberrant waders.[2]

The larids are generally larger species that take fish from the sea. Several gulls and skuas will also take food items from beaches, or rob smaller species, and some have become adapted to inland environments.

The suborder Lari includes five to six families:[3][4]

and sometimes:

Lari

Turnicidae – buttonquails (18 species)

Dromadidae – crab-plover

Glareolidae – coursers, pratincoles (17 species)

Laridae – gulls, terns, skimmers (103 species)

Stercorariidae – skuas (7 species)

Alcidae – auks (25 species)

A family level phylogeny of the suborder Lari based a study by Heiner Kuhl and collaborators published in 2020.[5] The families and the number of species are from the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithologists' Union.[4]
  1. ^ Baker, A.J.; Pereira, S.L.; Paton, T.A. (2007). "Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds". Biology Letters. 3 (2): 205–209. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606. PMC 2375939. PMID 17284401. Baker, A. J.; Pereira, S. L.; Paton, T. A. (2008). "Erratum: Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds". Biology Letters. 4: 762–763. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606erratum.
  2. ^ Paton et al., 2003; Thomas et al., 2004; Paton & Baker, 2006
  3. ^ Cracraft, Joel (2013). Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr. (eds.). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. pp. xxxvii–xxxviii. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
  4. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "IOC World Bird List Version 11.2". International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  5. ^ Kuhl., H.; Frankl-Vilches, C.; Bakker, A.; Mayr, G.; Nikolaus, G.; Boerno, S. T.; Klages, S.; Timmermann, B.; Gahr, M. (2020). "An unbiased molecular approach using 3'-UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 38: 108–127. doi:10.1093/molbev/msaa191. PMC 7783168. PMID 32781465.