Taxonomy in flux has a substantial update focused on Charadriiformes:
Magellanic Plover: The Magellanic Plover family, Pluvianellidae, has been demoted to a subfamily (Pluvianellinae) of the sheathbill family Chionidae.
[
Chionidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Thick-knees: Based on Paton et al. (2003) and Černý and Natale, (2021), the genus
Burhinus is divided into three genera:
- An unnamed genus designated "Burhinus", which includes the Double-striped Thick-knee, "Burhinus" bistriatus, and the Peruvian Thick-knee, "Burhinus" superciliaris
- Burhinus itself is now reduced to a single species, the Bush Stone-Curlew, Burhinus grallarius
- Oedicnemus (Temminck 1815), type oedicnemus, the Eurasian Stone-Curlew. This genus includes all four other species formerly included in Burhinus.
[
Burhinidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Stilts and Avocets: The Banded Stilt,
Cladorhynchus leucocephalus, is basal in family Recurvirostridae, which has been rearranged accordingly.
[
Recurvirostridae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Far Eastern Oystercatcher, Haematopus osculans: Based on Senfeld et al. (2020b), the Far Eastern Oystercatcher,
Haematopus osculans, has been split from the Eurasian Oystercatcher,
Haematopus ostralegus.
[
Haematopodidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Oystercatchers: Based on Senfeld et al. (2020b), the American Oystercatchers have been separated in genus
Prohaematopus (Matthews 1913), type
ater.
[
Haematopodidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Charadriidae Genus Changes:
- The Hooded Dotterel is referred to as "Thinornis" cucullatus
- Forbes's Plover is referred to as "Afroxyechus" forbesi
- The Pied Lapwing / Pied Plover is transferred to the monotypic genus Hoploxypterus (Bonaparte, 1856)
- Vanellus is restricted to the Northern Lapwing
- Southern Lapwing and Andean Lapwing are transferred to Belonopterus (Reichenbach 1852, type chilensis)
- Until we know more, the other 20 lapwings have been placed in Hoplopterus (Bonaparte 1831, type spinosus). I did not find the total evidence tree useful here as it contradicts the available genetic data. I retained the previous arrangement of the Vanellinae, with the above genera pulled out.
- The Double-banded Plover, Anarhynchus bicinctus, is transferred to the monotypic genus Nesoceryx (Mathews, 1920).
- The New Zealand Plover, Anarhynchus obscurus, is transferred to the monotypic genus Pluviorhynchus (Bonaparte 1856).
- Finally, Ochthodromus is divided into Leucopolius (Bonaparte 1856), type marginatus, Helenaegialus (Mathews 1913), type sanctaehelenae, and Ochthodromus (Reichenbach 1852), type wilsonia.
[
Charadriidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Buttonquails: The buttonquail tree was constructed by combining the species groups described by Debus (1996) with the 7-species phylogeny of Černý and Natale (2021). I was surprised there were no conflicts.
[
Turnicidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Coursers and Pratincoles:
- The Double-banded Courser, previously Rhinoptilus africanus, has been transferred to Smutsornis (Roberts 1922, monotypic).
- The Gray Pratincole, Glareola cinerea, and Small Pratincole, Glareola lactea have been transferred to Galachrysia (Bonaparte 1856, type lactea). The movement that prompted this was based on DNA analyzed by Černý and Natale (2021).
- The Rock Pratincole, Glareola nuchalis, and Madagascan Pratincole, Glareola ocularis, have been transferred to Subglareola (Mathews 1913, type ocularis).
- I have restored the monotypic genus Stiltia (G.R. Gray, 1855, type isabella) which I had previously submerged in Glareola.
[
Glareolidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Jaegers and Skuas: The Stercorariidae have been rearranged slightly to conform with Černý and Natale (2021).
[
Stercorariidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Tropical Murrelets: The three tropical murrelets, Craveri's Murrelet,
Synthliboramphus craveri, Scripps's Murrelet,
Synthliboramphus scrippsi, and Guadelupe Murrelet,
Synthliboramphus hypoleucus, have been transferred to genus
Endomychura (Oberholser 1899, type
hypoleuca).
[
Alcidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Terns and Skimmers: The Terns have been promoted to a family, Sternidae, with two subfamilies, Rynchopinae (skimmers) and Gyginae (white terns). The gull and tern families form the superfamily Laroidea.
[
Sternidae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Gulls and Noddies: The Noddies (
Anous = Anouinae) are treated as a subfamily of the gulls (Laridae) based on the genetic trees from Černý and Natale (2021). The relevant material can be found in Figures A-3 and A-5 of the supplementary material.
[
Laridae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
New Larid Genera: Based on Černý and Natale (2021), I've recognized three additional genera in the gulls:
- The Slender-billed Gull, Chroicocephalus genei, is separated from the other Chroicocephalus by about 10 million years. It is also distinctive, and I've moved it to genus Gelastes (Bonaparte 1856, monotypic).
- The division between Dolphin and Gray Gulls on one hand, and Laughing, Franklin's, and Lava Gulls on the other is about 6 million years, enough to support different genera. Moreover, they obviously form two, or even three groups. Accordingly, the Laughing, Franklin's and Lava Gulls have been moved to Atricilla (Bonaparte 1854, type atricilla). It would not be unreasonable to also split the Gray Gull, Leucophaeus modestus. In that case it would be genus Blasipus (Bruch 1853).
- The band-tailed gulls (4 species) are transferred to genus Gabianus (Bruch 1853, type pacificus).
The TiF list has adopted Figs. A-5 and A-6 from Černý and Natale for the
Larus gulls.
[
Laridae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]
Mew Gull: As in the AOS Supplement #62, the Mew Gull,
Larus canus, is split into:
- Common Gull, Larus canus
- Short-billed Gull, Larus brachyrhynchus
[
Laridae, Charadriiformes, 3.06]