Larus

Herring gulls Larus argentatus, photographed by Ricky.

Belongs within: Larinae.

The genus Larus, previously used to include the majority of gulls, has often been restricted by recent authors to include the herring gulls and related species. These are larger gulls with white heads and grey or black backs. Taxonomy of the group has historically been complex with disagreement on the treatment of closely related forms at the species or subspecies level. Members of the genus include a basal clade of large, mostly dark-backed species containing the Pacific gull L. pacificus, Belcher's gull L. belcheri, black-tailed gull L. crassirostris and Olrog's gull L. atlanticus; Olrog's gull is found on the Atlantic coast of South America whereas the others are found around the Pacific ocean.

Larus Linnaeus 1758 [=Dominicanus Bruch 1853; incl. Clupeilarus Bonaparte 1856] CC10
    |  i. s.: L. eburneus WBSJ82
    |         L. elmorei FP64
    |         L. graellsii N10 [=L. fuscus graellsii FP64]
    |         L. kamtschatschensis SU93
    |         L. leucopterus S70
    |         L. livens JT12
    |         L. ‘pomare’ (Bruch 1855) (n. d.) [=Gavia pomare non G. pomarre Bruch 1853, L. pomarae (l. c.)] CC10
    |         L. sabini M03
    |         L. teruelensis (Villalta 1963) [=Totanus teruelensis, Tringa teruelensis] M02
    |--+--+--L. atlanticus JT12
    |  |  `--L. crassirostris BKB15
    |  `--+--L. belcheri BKB15
    |     `--L. pacificus Latham 1802 BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    `--+--L. heermanni BKB15
       `--+--+--L. canus Linnaeus 1758 BKB15, M02
          |  `--L. delawarensis BKB15
          `--+--L. occidentalis JT12
             `--+--+--*L. marinus Linnaeus 1758 CC10, BKB15, L58 [=*Dominicanus marinus CC10]
                |  `--+--L. armenicus JT12 [=L. argentatus armenicus FP64, L. fuscus armenicus FP64]
                |     `--L. michahellis JT12 [=L. argentatus michahelles FP64, L. fuscus michahelles FP64]
                `--+--L. californicus BKB15
                   |--L. heuglini BKB15 [=L. argentatus heuglini SU93, L. fuscus heuglini FP64]
                   |--+--L. dominicanus Lichtenstein 1823 BKB15, CC10
                   |  |    |--L. d. dominicanus (see below for synonymy) CC10
                   |  |    |--L. d. austrinus Fleming 1924 CC10
                   |  |    |--L. d. judithae Jiguet 2002 CC10
                   |  |    |--L. d. melisandae Jiguet 2002 CC10
                   |  |    `--L. d. vetula (Bruch 1853) CC10
                   |  `--L. fuscus Linnaeus 1758 JT12, CC10 [=*Clupeilarus fuscus CC10, Lestris fuscus CC10]
                   |       |--L. f. fuscus FP64
                   |       `--L. f. antelius FP64
                   `--+--L. argentatus BKB15
                      |    |--L. a. argentatus FP64
                      |    |--L. a. atlantis [=L. fuscus atlantis] FP64
                      |    |--L. a. birulai FP64
                      |    `--L. a. omissus FP64
                      |--L. cachinnans BKB15 [=L. argentatus cachinnans FP64, L. fuscus cachinnans FP64]
                      `--+-L. glaucescens BKB15
                         |--+--L. hyperboreus BKB15
                         |  |--L. thayeri BKB15
                         |  `--L. vegae BKB15 [=L. argentatus vegae SU93]
                         `--+--L. smithsonianus BKB15 [=L. argentatus smithsonianus N10]
                            `--+--L. glaucoides BKB15
                               |    |--L. g. glaucoides FP64
                               |    `--L. g. kumlieni FP64
                               |--L. mongolicus BKB15 (see below for synonymy)
                               `--L. schistisagus BKB15

Inorganic: Larus ridibundus minilorientalus Okamura 1987 O87

Nomina nuda: Larus burdigalensis Lucazeau 1959 M02
             Larus melanoleucos Boie 1844 CC10

Larus dominicanus dominicanus Lichtenstein 1823 [incl. Larus dominicanus absolutus Mathews 1944, Lestris antarcticus Ellman 1861 non Lesson 1831, Larus antipodus Gray 1844, Clupeilarus antipodum, Dominicanus antipodum, D. antipodus, Larus antipodum, Larus dominicanus antipodus] CC10

Larus mongolicus BKB15 [=L. argentatus mongolicus SU93, L. cachinnans mongolicus VP89, L. fuscus mongolicus FP64]

Larus pacificus Latham 1802 BKB15, CC10 [=Gabianus pacificus WS48; incl. L. georgii Vigors 1827 WS48, L. pacificus georgii M03]

*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.

[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.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[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.

[N10] Naish, D. 2010. Tetrapod Zoology: Book One. CFZ Press: Bideford (UK).

[O87] Okamura, C. 1987. New facts: Homo and all Vertebrata were born simultaneously in the former Paleozoic in Japan. Original Report of the Okamura Fossil Laboratory 15: 347–573.

[S70] Schnell, G. D. 1970. A phenetic study of the suborder Lari (Aves) I. Methods and results of principal components analysis. Systematic Zoology 19 (1): 35–57.

[SU93] Sonobe, K., & S. Usui (eds.) 1993. A Field Guide to the Waterbirds of Asia. Wild Bird Society of Japan: Tokyo.

[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.

[WBSJ82] Wild Bird Society of Japan. 1982. A Field Guide to the Birds of Japan. Kodansha International Ltd.: Tokyo.

Last updated: 10 August 2019.