Lari

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]

Lari Temporal range: Late Eocene – Present
Atlantic yellow-legged gull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Suborder:	Lari Sharpe, 1891
Families
Laridae Stercorariidae Alcidae

Greater crested tern displaying in Tasmania.

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.

References

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: 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

Sources

• Paton, Tara A.; Baker, Allan J. (2006). "Sequences from 14 mitochondrial genes provide a well-supported phylogeny of the Charadriiform birds congruent with the nuclear RAG-1 tree". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 39 (3): 657–667. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.01.011. PMID 16531074.
• Paton, T. A.; Baker, A. J.; Groth, J. G.; Barrowclough, G. F. (2003). "RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 29: 268–278. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8. PMID 13678682.
• Thomas, Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A.; Székely, Tamás (2004). "A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny". BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28. PMC 515296. PMID 15329156.