Biology:Blue-billed white tern
| Blue-billed white tern | |
|---|---|
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Gygis |
| Species: | G. candida
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| Binomial name | |
| Gygis candida Gmelin, 1789
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The blue-billed white tern (Gygis candida) is a small seabird found in Pacific and Indian oceans.[1] This species was previously considered as conspecific with the Atlantic white tern (Gygis alba) and the little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species.[2][3][4] It is known as manu-o-kū in Hawaiian. In the Cook Islands, it is known as the kakaia.
Taxonomy
The blue-billed white tern was first formally described by the German ornithologist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789.[3] The species epithet is from Latin candidus (white).
There are two recognized subspecies of the blue-billed white tern:[3]
- Gygis candida candida (Gmelin, 1789) – Indian Ocean – (Seychelles, Mascarene Islands, Chagos Archipelago and Maldives) and tropical Pacific Ocean (Lord Howe Island, Norfolk Island, Kermadec Islands, Hawaii, Clipperton Island, Cocos Island and Malpelo Island)
- Gygis candida leucopes (Holyoak and Thibault, 1976)[5] – Henderson Island, Pitcairn Island
Description
A medium-sized all-white tern. The eyes are narrow and are dark in colour. The bill is black in color with blue in the base, hence its name. The shape of the bill is thick and "daggerlike" with a sharp-pointed tip. Legs are slaty-blue in color, with yellow or white webs.[4]
The immature is similar to the adult, except the body and wings are fringed with brown and the base of bill is black in colour.[4]
Distribution and habitat
Threats and predation
Giant tortoises have been observed to hunt chicks of this bird on Fregate Island in the Seychelles.[6]
References
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedIUCN - ↑ Pratt, H. Douglas (2020). "Species limits and English names in the genus Gygis (Laridae)". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 140 (2): 195–208. doi:10.25226/bboc.v140i2.2020.a10. ISSN 0007-1595. Bibcode: 2020BBrOC.140..195P.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Christidis, Les; Rheindt, Frank E.; Iliff, Marshall J.; Lepage, Denis; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Donald, Paul; Alström, Per; Areta, Juan Ignacio et al. (2025) (in en-US). The Checklist v2025. doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. http://www.avilist.org/checklist/v2025/. Retrieved 2025-11-02.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Niethammer, Kenneth R.; Patrick, Laura B.; Kirwan, Guy M.; Keeney, Brooke K.; Pyle, Peter; Billerman, Shawn M. (2025). "Blue-billed White-Tern (Gygis candida), version 1.0" (in en). Birds of the World. doi:10.2173/bow.whiter4.01. ISSN 2771-3105. https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/whiter4/cur/introduction. Retrieved 2025-11-01.
- ↑ Société ornithologique de France.; France, Société ornithologique de; ornithologiques, Société d'études; naturelle (France), Muséum national d'histoire (1976). Alauda : revue internationale d'ornithologie. 44. Dijon: Société d'études ornithologiques de France. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/301163. Retrieved 2025-11-02.
- ↑ Zora, Anna; Gerlach, Justin (2021). "Giant tortoises hunt and consume birds" (in en). Current Biology 31 (16): R989–R990. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.088. PMID 34428417. Bibcode: 2021CBio...31.R989Z. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0960982221009179. Retrieved 2025-11-02.
Wikidata ☰ Q116718643 entry
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