Biology:Lari

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Short description: Suborder of birds

Lari
Temporal range: Late Eocene – Present
2004-04-10 Larus michahellis ad.jpg
Atlantic yellow-legged gull
Scientific classification e
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Suborder: Lari
Sharpe, 1891
Families
Greater crested tern displaying in Tasmania.

The suborder Lari is the part of the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns, skuas and skimmers; the rest of the order is made up of the waders and snipes. The auks are now placed into the Lari too, following recent research. [1] Sometimes, the buttonquails are also placed here, but the molecular data and fossil record rather suggests they are a quite basal offshoot along with the snipe-like and aberrant waders.[2]

The larids are generally larger species that take fish from the sea. Several gulls and skuas will also take food items from beaches, or rob smaller species, and some have become adapted to inland environments.

References

  1. Baker, A.J.; Pereira, S.L.; Paton, T.A. (2007). "Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds". Biology Letters 3: 205–209. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606. PMID 17284401.  Baker, A. J.; Pereira, S. L.; Paton, T. A. (2008). "Erratum: Phylogenetic relationships and divergence times of Charadriiformes genera: multigene evidence for the Cretaceous origin of at least 14 clades of shorebirds". Biology Letters 4: 762–763. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2006.0606erratum. 
  2. Paton et al., 2003; Thomas et al., 2004; Paton & Baker, 2006

Sources

Wikidata ☰ Q864492 entry