Laridae

{{Short description|Family of birds}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Larus argentatus ad.jpg | image_caption = European herring gull | taxon = Laridae | authority = Rafinesque, 1815 | subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies | subdivision = *Anoinae *Gyginae *Rynchopinae *Larinae *Sterninae }}

'''Laridae''' is a family of seabirds in the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns (including white terns), noddies, and skimmers. It includes 105 species arranged into 23 genera. They are an adaptable group of mostly aerial birds found worldwide.

==Taxonomy== The family Laridae was introduced (as Laridia) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Rafinesque | first=Constantine Samuel | author-link=Constantine Samuel Rafinesque | year=1815 | title=Analyse de la nature ou, Tableau de l'univers et des corps organisés | volume=1815 | publisher=Self-published | place=Palermo | language=fr | page=72 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/48310150 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Bock | first=Walter J. | year=1994 | title=History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names | series=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume= 222 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | pages=138, 252 | hdl=2246/830 }}</ref> Historically, Laridae were restricted to the gulls, while the terns were placed in a separate family, Sternidae, and the skimmers in a third family, Rynchopidae.<ref name=CB08>{{cite book |title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds|author1=Christidis, Les |author2=Boles, Walter E. |year=2008 |publisher=CSIRO Publishing |location=Canberra |isbn=978-0-643-06511-6 |page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFP9P1i-PoEC&pg=PA128}}</ref> The noddies were traditionally included in Sternidae. In 1990 Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist included auks and skuas in a broader family Laridae.<ref>Sibley, Charles Gald & Ahlquist, Jon Edward (1990): ''Phylogeny and classification of birds''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.</ref>

A molecular phylogenetic study by Baker and colleagues published in 2007 found that the noddies in the genus ''Anous'' formed a sister group to a clade containing the gulls, skimmers, and the other terns.<ref name=baker2007/> To create a monophyletic family group, Laridae was expanded to include the genera that had previously been in Sternidae and Rynchopidae.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web | title=Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks – IOC World Bird List | website=worldbirdnames.org | date=2025-02-20 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/gulls/ | access-date=2025-09-24}}</ref><ref name=hbw>{{cite book| last1=Burger | first1=J. | last2=Gochfeld | first2=M. | last3=Bonan | first3=A. | chapter=Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae) | editor1-last=del Hoyo | editor1-first=J. | editor2-last=Elliott | editor2-first=A. | editor3-last=Sargatal | editor3-first=J. | editor4-last=Christie | editor4-first=D.A. | editor5-last=de Juana | editor5-first=E. | title=Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive | year=2020 | publisher=Lynx Edicions | doi=10.2173/bow.larida1.01 | s2cid=216448411 | chapter-url=http://www.hbw.com/node/52249 | access-date=22 April 2017 }}</ref>

Baker and colleagues found that the Laridae lineage diverged from a lineage that gave rise to both the skuas (Stercorariidae) and auks (Alcidae) before the end of the Cretaceous in the age of dinosaurs. They also found that the Laridae themselves began expanding in the early Paleocene, around 60 million years ago.<ref name=baker2007/> The German palaeontologist Gerald Mayr has questioned the validity of these early dates and suggested that inappropriate fossils were used in calibrating the molecular data. The earliest charadriiform fossils date only from the late Eocene, around 35 million years ago.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Mayr | first=Gerald | author-link=Gerald Mayr | year=2011 | title=The phylogeny of charadriiform birds (shorebirds and allies) – reassessing the conflict between morphology and molecules | journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society | volume=161 | issue=4 | pages=916–934 | doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2010.00654.x | doi-access= }}</ref>

Anders Ödeen and colleagues investigated the development of ultraviolet vision in shorebirds, by looking for the SWS1 opsin gene in various species; as gulls were the only shorebirds known to have developed the trait. They discovered that the gene was present in the gull, skimmer, and noddy lineages but not the tern lineage. They also recovered the noddies as an early lineage, though the evidence was not strong.<ref>{{ cite journal | title= Evolution of ultraviolet vision in shorebirds (Charadriiformes) | last1=Odeen| first1= Anders |last2= Håstad| first2= Olle |last3= Alström | first3= Per |journal =Biology Letters| date=2010| volume=6| issue=3| pages=370–74 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2009.0877| pmc=2880050 | pmid=20015861}}</ref>

===Genera=== The family contains 105 species in 23 genera.<ref name=avilist>{{ cite web | author=AviList Core Team | date=2025 | title=AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025 | doi=10.2173/avilist.v2025 | doi-access=free | url=http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/ | access-date=13 January 2026 }}</ref> For the complete list of species, see the article List of Laridae species. {{div col|colwidth=24em}} *Subfamily Rynchopinae (skimmers) **Genus ''Rynchops'' (3 species) *Subfamily Gyginae (white terns) **Genus ''Gygis'' (3 species) *Subfamily Anoinae (noddies) **Genus ''Anous'' (5 species) *Subfamily Sterninae (terns) **Genus ''Onychoprion'' (4 species) **Genus ''Sternula'' (7 species) **Genus ''Phaetusa'' (1 species; large-billed tern) **Genus ''Gelochelidon'' (2 species) **Genus ''Hydroprogne'' (1 species; Caspian tern) **Genus ''Larosterna'' (1 species; Inca tern) **Genus ''Chlidonias'' (4 species) **Genus ''Sterna'' (13 species) **Genus ''Thalasseus'' (7 species) *Subfamily Larinae (gulls) **Genus ''Creagrus'' (1 species; swallow-tailed gull) **Genus ''Hydrocoloeus'' (1 species; little gull) **Genus ''Rhodostethia'' (1 species; Ross's gull) **Genus ''Rissa'' (kittiwakes) (2 species) **Genus ''Pagophila'' (1 species; ivory gull) **Genus ''Xema'' (1 species; Sabine's gull) **Genus ''Saundersilarus'' (1 species; Saunders's gull) **Genus ''Chroicocephalus'' (10 species) **Genus ''Leucophaeus'' (5 species) **Genus ''Ichthyaetus'' (6 species) **Genus ''Larus'' (25 species) {{div col end}}

===Cladogram=== Left is part of the cladogram of the genera in the order Charadriiformes based on the analysis by Baker and colleagues published in 2007;<ref name=baker2007/> Right is the result of a comprehensive taxon sampling and fossil calibration of the charadriiform lineages from Černý and Natale (2022), which offers a different arrangement of the five subclades of larids; the skimmers, the white terns, noddies, and sternine terns clustered as a clade sister to the gulls, which were recovered in a basal position. The divergence amongst these five subfamilies occurred throughout 6 to 7 million years during the Priabonian age of the Eocene.<ref name="CN2022"/> This arrangement is also in agreement with the general acceptance from some researchers in that, instead of five subfamilies, there are three. These three would be Larinae (gulls), Rynchopinae (skimmers), and Sterinae (noddies and terns).<ref name="LaridaeBoW">{{cite journal|last1=Winkler |first1=D. W. |last2= Billerman |first2= S. M. |last3=Lovette |first3= I. J.|date=4 March 2020 |url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/larida1/cur/introduction |title=Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers (Laridae), version 1.0 |website=Birds of the World |doi=10.2173/bow.larida1.01 |s2cid=216193779 |access-date=9 July 2025|url-access=subscription }}</ref> {{cladogram |title= Baker ''et al.'' 2007<ref name=baker2007>{{ cite journal | last1=Baker | first1=A.J. | last2=Pereira | first2=S.L. | last3=Paton | first3=T.A. | year=2007 | title=Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds | journal=Biology Letters | volume=3 | issue= 2| pages=205–209 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606 | doi-access=free | pmc=2375939 | pmid=17284401}} {{ cite journal | title=Erratum: Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds | year=2008 | journal=Biology Letters | volume=4 | pages=762–763 | doi=10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606erratum | doi-access=free | last1 = Baker | first1 = Allan J | last2 = Pereira | first2 = Sérgio L | last3 = Paton | first3 = Tara A}}</ref> |align=left |cladogram= {{Clade| style=font-size:90%;line-height:100%;width:400px; |label1='''Laridae''' |1={{clade |1=''Anous'' – noddies (5 species) |2={{clade |1=''Gygis'' – white terns (1 species) |2={{clade |label1=Sterninae |1={{clade hidden|mode=left|expand-text= – terns (41 species) |1={{clade |1=''Phaetusa'' – large-billed tern |2=''Sternula'' – terns (7 species) }} |2={{clade |1={{clade |1=''Larosterna'' – Inca tern |2={{clade |1=''Gelochelidon'' – terns (2 species) |2=''Hydroprogne'' – Caspian tern }} }} |2={{clade |1=''Chlidonias'' – marsh terns (4 species) |2={{clade |1=''Thalasseus'' – crested terns (8 species) |2={{clade |1=''Onychoprion'' – brown-backed terns (4 species) |2=''Sterna'' – "true" terns (13 species) }} }} }} }} }} |2={{clade |1=''Rynchops'' – skimmers (3 species) |label2=Larinae |2={{clade hidden|mode=left|expand-text= – gulls (31 species) |1={{clade |1=''Creagrus'' – swallow-tailed gull |2=''Rhodostethia'' – Ross's gull }} |2={{clade |1=''Xema'' – Sabine's gull |2={{clade |1=''Pagophila'' – ivory gull |2={{clade |1=''Larus'' – "true" gulls (25 species) |2=''Rissa'' – kittiwakes (2 species) }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} }} {{cladogram |title=Černý & Natale, 2022<ref name="CN2022">{{Cite journal | last1=Černý | first1=David | last2=Natale | first2=Rossy | date=2022 | title=Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=177 | article-number=107620 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620| pmid=36038056 | bibcode=2022MolPE.17707620C }}</ref> |align=right |cladogram= {{Clade| style=font-size:90%;line-height:100%;width:400px; |label1='''Laridae''' |1={{clade |1=Larinae – gulls |2={{clade |1=Rynchopinae – skimmers |2={{clade |1=Sterninae |2={{clade |1=Gyginae – white terns |2=Anoinae – noddies}} }} }} }} }} }} {{clear}}

==Distribution and habitat== [[File:Ahlainen.vaakuna.svg|thumb|upright=0.6|A generalised nonspecific Laridae in the coat of arms of Ahlainen]] The Laridae have spread around the world, and their adaptability has likely been a factor. Most have become much more aerial (preferring flight) than their presumed ancestor, which likely resembled some form of "beachcombing" shorebird.<ref>{{cite book | last=Moynihan | first= Martin | year=1959 | title=A revision of the family Laridae (Aves) | series=American Museum Novitates | volume=1928 | publisher=American Museum of Natural History | place=New York | url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/handle/2246/5365//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/nov/N1928.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y }}</ref> In general, gull diversity is highest in the northern hemisphere at temperate latitudes, but with many exceptions, such as the Ivory Gull, resident in the High Arctic, and the kelp gull, reaching Antarctica. By comparison, skimmers and terns tend to live in warmer temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the globe, though some (notably the arctic tern) extending to polar latitudes of both hemispheres.<ref name="natgeobirdsofworld2009">{{cite book | last1 = Vinicombe | first1 = K. |year = 2009 | chapter = Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers | editor1-last = Harris | editor1-first = T. | title = National Geographic Complete Birds of the World. | publisher = National Geographic |location= Washington, D.C. | pages = 113–116 |isbn = 978-1-4262-0403-6}}</ref>{{Rp|116}} During the nonbreeding season, many species fly offshore, often becoming pelagic. In the breeding season, they nest along coastal regions or marshlands.<ref name="natgeobirdsofworld2009"/>{{Rp|116}}

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * Olsen, Klaus Malling & Larsson, Hans (2013) ''Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America''. Christopher Helm, London. {{ISBN|978-0-7136-7087-5}} * Olsen, Klaus Malling & Larsson, Hans (1995) ''Terns of Europe and North America''. Christopher Helm, London. {{ISBN|0-7136-4056-1}}

==External links== *{{Wikispecies-inline|Laridae}} *{{Commons category-inline}}

Category:Laridae Category:Seabirds Category:Bird families Category:Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque