Marsh tern
The name marsh tern refers to terns of the genus Chlidonias, which are typically found in freshwater marshes, rather than coastal locations. The genus name Chlidonias is from Ancient Greek khelidonios, "swallow-like", from khelidon, "swallow".[1]
| Marsh terns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Black-fronted tern (above) Chlidonias albostriatus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Chlidonias Rafinesque, 1822 |
| Species | |
| |
There are four species:
- Black tern, Chlidonias niger (or nigra)
- White-winged tern or white-winged black tern, Chlidonias leucopterus (or leucoptera)
- Whiskered tern, Chlidonias hybrida (or hybridus)
- The black-fronted tern, Chlidonias albostriatus (formerly Sterna albostriata) is now also recognized to belong to this genus.[2]
Notice the hesitation in the gender of the epithet of the scientific names, as they are usually masculine (albostriatus, leucopterus or niger), but in the case of the whiskered tern is mostly used as feminine (hybrida), maybe from the influence of the previous gender used, Sterna.
The black-bellied tern (Sterna acuticauda) and the white-cheeked tern (Sterna repressa) might also be placed in Chlidonias.
References
- Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005). A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution Archived 2006-07-20 at the Wayback Machine Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 459–469.
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