Charadriidae

Lesser sand plover Cirrepidesmus mongolus, copyright JJ Harrison.

Belongs within: Charadriiformes.
Contains: Charadrius, Vanellus.

The Charadriidae, plovers, are a group of relatively plump shorebirds with bills shorter than their heads and slightly swollen at the tip. Charadriids have historically been divided between the typical plovers of the Charadriinae and the generally larger, more inland-dwelling lapwings of the Vanellinae. However, recent phylogenetic analyses do not support monophyly of the Charadriinae (or indeed of the genus Charadrius). Instead, the lapwings are placed as sister to a clade including a number of species usually included within Charadrius, together with the red-kneed dotterel Erythrogonys cinctus of Australasia and the wrybill Anarhynchus frontalis of New Zealand. The latter is notable as the only bird species with its bill curved to one side (the right). The tawny-throated dotterel Oreopholus ruficollis, a fairly upright plover with a reddish throat and a black-streaked back which breeds in uplands of South America, may represent the sister taxon to all other living charadriids.

<==Charadriidae [Charadriadae]
    |  i. s.: Dolichopterus Milne-Edwards 1868 FP64, M02 [=Dolicopterus Aymard 1856 (n. n.) M02]
    |           `--*D. viator Nilne-Edwards 1868 [=Dolicopterus viator Aymard 1856 (n. n.)] M02
    |         Oxyechus vociferus S18
    |         Jiliniornis huadianensis Hou & Ericson 2002 M09
    |--Oreopholus ruficollis BKB15
    `--+--+--+--Phegornis mitchellii BKB15
       |  |  `--‘Charadrius’ modestus JT12
       |  `--+--Eudromias JT12
       |     |    |--E. australis N87
       |     |    `--E. morinellus (Linnaeus 1758) M02 [=Charadrius morinellus BKB15]
       |     `--+--‘Charadrius’ dubius BKB15
       |        |    |--C. d. dubius VP89
       |        |    `--C. d. curonicus VP89
       |        `--+--Charadrius JT12
       |           `--+--Thinornis Gray 1845 BKB15, CC10
       |              |    `--T. novaeseelandiae (Gmelin 1789) (see below for synonymy) CC10
       |              `--+--‘Thinornis’ cucullatus BKB15
       |                 |--‘Thinornis’ rubricollis JT12 [=Charadrius rubricollis M03]
       |                 `--Elseyornis Mathews 1914 JT12, CC10 [=Elseya Mathews 1913 non Gray 1867 CC10]
       |                      `--*E. melanops (Vieillot 1818) (see below for synonymy) CC10
       `--+--Vanellinae RN72
          |    |--Vanellus BKB15
          |    |--Chettusia gregaria RN72
          |    |--Zonifer tricolor (Vieillot 1818) RN72, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
          |    `--Belonopterus chilensis RN72
          |         |--B. c. chilensis RN72
          |         `--B. c. cayennensis RN72
          `--+--Erythrogonys Gould 1838 JT12, CC10
             |    `--*E. cinctus Gould 1838 CC10 [incl. E. cinctus mixtus Mathews 1912 WS48]
             `--+--Peltohyas Sharpe 1896 BKB15, B94 [Peltohyatinae]
                |    `--P. australis (Gould 1840) WS48 [=Eudromius australis WS48, Charadrius australis JT12]
                |         |--P. a. australis WS48
                |         `--P. a. whitlocki (Mathews 1912) [=Charadrius australis whitlocki] WS48
                `--+--+--Ochthodromus Reichenbach 1852 CC10
                   |  |    `--*O. wilsonia CC10 [=Charadrius wilsonia BKB15]
                   |  `--+--‘Charadrius’ veredus Gould 1848 BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                   |     `--+--Pagoa Mathews 1913 CC10
                   |        |    `--P. leschenaultii (Lesson in Levrault 1826) CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                   |        `--Cirrepidesmus Bonaparte 1856 CC10
                   |             `--C. mongolus (Pallas 1776) CC10 [=Charadrius mongolus JT12]
                   |                  |--C. m. mongolus CC10
                   |                  |--‘Charadrius’ m. atrifrons (see below for synonymy) CC10
                   |                  |--‘Charadrius’ m. pamirensis Richmond 1896 CC10
                   |                  |--‘Charadrius’ m. schaeferi de Schaunesee 1938 CC10
                   |                  `--‘Charadrius’ m. stegmanni Portenko 1939 CC10
                   `--+--Anarhynchus Quoy & Gaimard 1830 BKB15, CC10 [Anarhynchinae]
                      |     `--*A. frontalis Quoy & Gaimard 1830 (see below for synonymy) CC10
                      `--+--+--‘Charadrius’ collaris Vieillot 1818 BKB15, ME04 [=Aegialitis collaris SS66]
                         |  `--+--‘Charadrius’ alticola JT12
                         |     `--‘Charadrius’ falklandicus JT12
                         `--+--‘Charadrius’ montanus BKB15
                            `--+--+--‘Charadrius’ ruficapillus Temminck 1821 BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                               |  `--Nesoceryx Mathews 1920 CC10
                               |       `--*N. bicinctus (Jardine & Selby 1827) CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                               |            |--C. b. bicinctus (see below for synonymy) CC10
                               |            `--C. b. exilis Falla 1978 CC10
                               `--+--‘Charadrius’ alexandrinus Linnaeus 1758 BKB15, WS48
                                  |    |--C. a. alexandrinus M03
                                  |    `--C. a. dealbatus M03
                                  `--Leucopolius Bonaparte 1856 CC10
                                       `--*L. marginatus CC10 [=Charadrius marginatus JT12]

*Anarhynchus frontalis Quoy & Gaimard 1830 [=Charadrius frontalis, Haematopus frontalis, Thinornis frontalis; incl. Anarhynchus albifrons Schlegel 1857] CC10

‘Charadrius’ bicinctus bicinctus (Jardine & Selby 1827) [incl. C. bicinctus incertus Mathews 1912, Nesoceryx bicinctus incertus] CC10

‘Charadrius’ mongolus atrifrons [incl. Ch. cirrhepidesmus, *Cirrepidesmus cirrhepidesmus] CC10

‘Charadrius’ ruficapillus Temminck 1821 JT12, CC10 [=Aegialitis ruficapilla CC10, Aegiatilis (l. c.) ruficapilla CC10, Charadrius alexandrinus ruficapillus CC10, Leucopolius ruficapillus CC10; incl. C. ruficapillus tormenti Mathews 1912 WS48, L. ruficapillus tormenti CC10]

‘Charadrius’ veredus Gould 1848 BKB15, CC10 [=C. asiaticus veredus CC10, Eupoda asiatica vereda WS48, Eupodella vereda CC10]

*Elseyornis melanops (Vieillot 1818) [=Charadrius melanops; incl. C. melanops marngli Mathews 1912, C. nigrifrons Temminck & Laugier 1821, C. russatus Jerdon 1840, Elseyornis melanops russatus] CC10

*Nesoceryx bicinctus (Jardine & Selby 1827) CC10 [=Aegialitis bicincta CC10, Charadrius bicinctus JT12, Cirrepidesmus bicinctus CC10, Hiaticula bicincta CC10, Ochthodromus bicinctus CC10, Octhodromus (l. c.) bicinctus CC10]

Pagoa leschenaultii (Lesson in Levrault 1826) CC10 [=Charadrius leschenaultii JT12; incl. C. geoffroyi CC10, *Pagoa geoffroyi CC10, P. zanda Mathews 1916 WS48]

Thinornis novaeseelandiae (Gmelin 1789) [=Charadrius novaeseelandiae, Hiaticula novaeseelandiae, Thinornis novaezealandiae, T. novaezelandiae; incl. Charadrius atricinctus Ellman 1861, C. dudoroa Wagler 1827, *Thinornis rossii Gray 1845, C. torquatula Forster in Wagler 1829] CC10

Zonifer tricolor (Vieillot 1818) RN72, WS48 [=Charadrius tricolor WS48; incl. Z. tricolor gwendolenae Mathews 1912 WS48]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[M09] Mayr, G. 2009. Paleogene Fossil Birds. Springer.

[ME04] Mayr, G., & P. G. P. Ericson. 2004. Evidence for a sister group relationship between the Madagascan mesites (Mesitornithidae) and the cuckoos (Cuculidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 84 (1–2): 1–17.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds 2^nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.

[N87] North, A. J. 1887. List of references to authentic descriptions of Australian birds' eggs. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1163–1174.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 1. London, Blandford Press.

[SS66] Sclater, P. L., & O. Salvin. 1866. Catalogue of birds collected by Mr. E. Bartlett on the River Uyacali, Eastern Peru, with notes and descriptions of new species. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 175–201.

[S18] Stone, W. 1918. Birds of the Panama Canal Zone, with special reference to a collection made by Mr. Lindsey L. Jewel. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 70: 239–280.

[VP89] Viney, C., & K. Phillipps. 1989. Birds of Hong Kong 5^th ed. Government Printer: Hong Kong.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.

Last updated: 15 August 2019.