Sterna

Taxobox
name = Sterna

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Common Tern by the River Thames
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Charadriiformes
familia = Sternidae
genus = "Sterna"
genus_authority = Linnaeus, 1758
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = Many, see text.

Sterna is a genus of terns in the bird family "Sternidae". It used to encompass most "white" terns indiscriminately, but mtDNA sequence comparisons have recently determined that this arrangement is paraphyletic (Bridge "et al", 2005). It is now restricted to the typical large white terns occurring near-globally in coastal regions.

Classification

*Genus "Sterna" - typical white terns
** Forster's Tern "Sterna forsteri"
** Trudeau's Tern "Sterna trudeaui"
** Common Tern "Sterna hirundo"
** Roseate Tern "Sterna dougallii"
** White-fronted Tern "Sterna striata"
** Black-naped Tern "Sterna sumatrana"
** South American Tern "Sterna hirundinacea"
** Antarctic Tern "Sterna vittata"
** Kerguelen Tern "Sterna virgata"
** Arctic Tern "Sterna paradisaea"
** River Tern "Sterna aurantia"
** Black-bellied Tern "Sterna acuticauda" (possibly "Chlidonias")
** White-cheeked Tern "Sterna repressa" (possibly "Chlidonias")

References

*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. "Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution" 35: 459–469. [http://www2.hawaii.edu/~khayes/Journal_Club/summer2006/Bridge_et_al_2005_MPE.pdf PDF fulltext] .