| Skimmers | |
|---|---|
_in_flight.jpg)
| |
| Black skimmer (R. niger) skimming | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Rynchops Linnaeus, 1758 |
| Type species | |
| Rynchops niger (black skimmer) Linnaeus, 1758
| |
| Species | |
| |
The skimmers, forming the genus Rynchops, are tern-like birds in the family Laridae. The genus comprises three species found in South Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They were formerly known as the scissorbills.[1]
- ^ "scissorbill, n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.