Gallinago

Eurasian snipe Gallinago gallinago, photographed by J. C. Schou.

Belongs within: Scolopacidae.

Gallinago, the snipes, are stocky, straight-billed wading birds. They are found in most parts of the world though only as non-breeding migrants in Australia. Species are found in freshwater habitats such as marshes and riverbanks.

Characters (from Ridgway 1887): Top of head with longitudinal stripes. Ears situated directly under eyes; tip of upper mandible thickened, with cutting edges brought close together. Plumage not varying between breeding and non-breeding seasons. Lower part of thighs naked; back of tarsus with continuous row of transverse scutellae.

<==Gallinago Brisson 1760 [incl. Capella Frenzel 1801, Ditelmatias Mathews 1913; Gallinaginae, Gallinagininae] CC10
    |--+--G. media (Latham 1787) BKB15, M02 [=Scolopax media M02, Capella media M02]
    |  `--+--G. megala Swinhoe 1861 JT12, WS48 [incl. G. australis oweni Mathews 1912 WS48]
    |     `--G. stenura JT12
    `--+--*G. gallinago (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, BKB15, ME04 (see below for synonymy)
       `--+--G. nigripennis BKB15
          `--+--G. delicata BKB15
             `--G. paraguaiae JT12

Gallinago incertae sedis:
  G. andina JT12
  G. hardwickii (Gray 1831) CC10 (see below for synonymy)
  G. imperialis JT12
  G. jamesoni JT12
  G. macrodactyla JT12
  G. nemoricola JT12
  G. nobilis JT12
  G. solitaria JT12
    |--G. s. solitaria VP89
    `--G. s. japonica VP89
  G. stricklandii JT12
  G. undulata JT12 [=Capella undulata MS55]
    |--G. u. undulata MS55
    `--‘Capella’ u. gigantea MS55
  G. veterior Jánossy 1979 [=Capella veterior] M02

*Gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, BKB15, ME04 [=Scolopax gallinago CC10, Capella gallinago M02; incl. S. coelestis CC10, *Capella coelestis CC10]

Gallinago hardwickii (Gray 1831) CC10 [=Scolopax hardwickii CC10, Capella hardwicki RN72, *Ditelmatias hardwickii CC10, Gallinago hardwicki CC10; incl. Scolopax australis Latham 1802 CC10, G. australis CC10]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[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.

[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.

[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.

[MS55] Mertens, R., & J. Steinbacher. 1955. Die im Senckenberg-Museum vorhandenen Arten ausgestorbener, aussterbender oder seltener Vögel. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36 (3–4): 241–265.

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

Ridgway, R. 1887. A Manual of North American Birds. J. B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia.

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

[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: 10 August 2019.