Taxonomy chapter for Tern, least (040186)

Phylum
Chordata
 
Subphylum
Vertebrata
 
Class
Aves
 
Subclass
N/A
 
Species Order
Charadriiformes
 
Species Suborder
N/A
 
Family
Laridae
 
SubFamily
Sterninae
 
Genus
Sternula
 
Species
antillarum
 
Subspecies
N/A
 
Authority
Lesson, 1847
 
ITIS-TSN
824127
 
Taxonomy Comments
Three subspecies breed in the continental United States. The eastern subspecies, Sterna antillarum antillarum, breeds in Virginia *9286*. S. antillarum and S. albifrons were formerly considered conspecific. The two species, in addition to S. superciliaris and S. lorata of South America, S. saundersi of the northwestern Indian Ocean region, and S. nereis of Australia appear to constitute a superspecies *4275*. On 1/16/2020, the Genus was updated from Sterna to Sternula, based on personal communication with Sergio Harding (DGIF) and the AOU checklist. Other taxonomic information was updated based on ITIS.gov and NatureServe. *11882,11923*
 
References for Taxonomy
Ref.Id Citation
1500 Terres, J.K., 1982, Audubon society encyclopedia of North American birds, Alfred A. Knopf, N.Y
4257 Wiley, J.W., B.N. Wiley, 1979, Status of the American flamingo in the Dominican Republic and eastern Haiti, Auk, Vol. 96(3), pg. 615-619
8511 Ornithology, Virginia Society of, Teta Kain (Ed.), 1987, Virginia's Birdlife: an Annotated Checklist , Virginia Avifauna Number 3, 127 pgs., VSO
9286 Terwilliger, K.T., 1991, Virginia's endangered species: Proceedings of a symposium. Coordinated by the Virginia Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries, Nongame and Endangered Species Program, 672 pp. pgs., McDonald and Woodward Publ. Comp., Blacksburg, VA
11303 American Ornithologists' Union, 1998, Check-list of North American Birds, 7th Edition, 829 pp. pgs., AOU and Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, KS
11882 NatureServe, 2001, NatureServe Explorer: An online encyclopedia of life, http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/
11923 Interagency Taxonomy Steering Committee (ITSC), 2003, Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), http://www.itis.usda.gov