Scolopacidae

Eurasian woodcock Scolopax rusticola, photographed by Ingvar Torsson.

Belongs within: Charadriiformes.
Contains: Numenius, Limosa, Calidris, Tringa, Gallinago.

The Scolopacidae is a clade of wading birds including the woodcocks, snipes, sandpipers and related taxa. Most scolopacids tend to have relatively long, slender bills, and are most often coloured (at least in the non-breeding season) in variegated browns or greys. The majority of scolopacids are associated with coastal or other damp habitats but the woodcocks Scolopax are woodland birds, as are the New Zealand snipes of the genus Coenocorypha. Members of the genera Scolopax, Coenocorypha and Gallinago are all relatively stocky, shorter-legged forms with long, straight bills. The jack snipe Lymnocryptes minima of Asia is a smaller, shorter-billed species. The phalaropes of the genus Phalaropus have historically been treated as a separate family but are nested within the Scolopacidae by phylogenetic analysis (Jetz et al. 2012). Phalaropes have toes with extended lateral membranes and feed while spinning on the surface of the water to stir up small aquatic invertebrates. The turnstones of the genus Arenaria are relatively small, stocky shore birds with a comparatively short, slightly upturned bill that is used for turning over stones and other coastal debris when foraging.

See also: Name the bug #8: Prosobonia cancellata.

<==Scolopacidae [Numeniini, Scolopacea, Scolopacinae, Scolopacoidea, Tringidae, Tringinae]
    |--+--Numenius JT12
    |  `--Bartramia Lesson 1831 non Hedw. 1801 (ICBN) JT12, CC10 [Bartramiini]
    |       `--B. longicauda (Bechstein 1811) [=Tringa longicauda; incl. *B. laticauda] CC10
    `--+--Limosa JT12
       `--+--+--Calidris JT12
          |  `--Arenaria Brisson 1760 JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |       |--*A. interpres (Linnaeus 1758) CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |       |    |--A. i. interpres CC10
          |       |    `--A. i. morinella (Linnaeus 1766) CC10
          |       `--A. melanocephala JT12
          `--+--+--Actitis Illiger 1811 BKB15, CC10
             |  |    |--*A. hypoleucos (Linnaeus 1758) [=Tringa hypoleucos, A. hypoleucus] CC10
             |  |    |--A. balcanica Boev 1998 M02
             |  |    `--A. macularius JT12
             |  `--+--Tringa BKB15
             |     `--+--Xenus Kaup 1829 BKB15, CC10 [incl. Terekia Bonaparte 1838 CC10]
             |        |    `--*X. cinereus (Güldenstaedt 1774) (see below for synonymy) CC10
             |        `--Phalaropus Brisson 1760 BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
             |             |  i. s.: P. eleonorae Kurochkin 1985 U93
             |             |--P. tricolor (Vieillot 1819) BKB15, CC10 [=*Steganopus tricolor CC10]
             |             `--+--*P. fulicarius (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
             |                `--P. lobatus (Linnaeus 1758) BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
             `--+--Lymnocryptes Kaup 1829 BKB15, M02 [Lymnocryptinae]
                |    `--L. minimus (Brünnich 1764) [=Scolopax minima] M02
                `--+--Limnodromus Wied 1833 BKB15, CC10 [Limnodrominae]
                   |    |--L. griseus [incl. Scolopax novaeboracensis, *Limnodromus novaeboracensis] CC10
                   |    |--L. scolopaceus JT12
                   |    `--L. semipalmatus (Blyth 1848) [=Macrorhamphus semipalmatus] CC10
                   `--+--+--Gallinago JT12
                      |  `--Coenocorypha Gray 1855 BKB15, CC10
                      |       |--*C. aucklandica (Gray 1845) [=Gallinago aucklandica, Scolopax auclandica] CC10
                      |       |    |--C. a. aucklandica (see below for synonymy) CC10
                      |       |    `--C. a. meinertzhagenae Rothschild 1927 CC10
                      |       |--C. barrierensis Oliver 1955 [=C. aucklandica barrierensis] CC10
                      |       |--C. chathamica (Forbes 1893) [=Gallinago chathamica] CC10
                      |       |--C. huegeli (Tristram 1893) [=Gallinago huegeli, C. aucklandica huegeli] CC10
                      |       |--C. iredalei Rothschild 1921 [=C. aucklandica iredalei] CC10
                      |       `--C. pusilla (Buller 1869) [=Gallinago pusilla, C. aucklandica pusilla] CC10
                      `--Scolopax Linnaeus 1758 JT12, M02
                           |--S. aegocephala Linnaeus L58
                           |--S. alba Linnaeus 1758 L58
                           |--S. anthonyi SWK87
                           |--S. baranensis Jánossy 1979 M02
                           |--S. bukidnonensis JT12
                           |--S. carmesinae Seguí 1999 M02
                           |--S. celebensis JT12
                           |--S. fedoa Linnaeus 1758 L58
                           |--S. fusca Linnaeus 1758 L58
                           |--S. minor JT12
                           |--S. mira Hartert 1916 I92
                           |--S. rochussenii JT12
                           |--S. rosenbergii JT12
                           |--S. rubra Linnaeus 1758 L58
                           |--S. rusticola Linnaeus 1758 [incl. S. rusticola magnus Potapova 1990] M02
                           |--S. saturata JT12
                           `--S. totanus Linnaeus 1758 L58

Scolopacidae incertae sedis:
  Tryngites rufescens SS66a
  Philohela minor A61
  Rhyacophilus solitarius SS66a
  Actiturus bartramius SS66b
  Elorius Milne-Edwards 1868 M02
    `--*E. paludicola Milne-Edwards 1868 M02
  Prosobonia Bonaparte 1850 [Prosoboniini] B94
    |--P. cancellata JT12
    |--P. ellisi HSS13
    `--P. leucoptera HSS13
  Macrorhamphus griseus S18
  Helodromas solitarius S18

Arenaria Brisson 1760 JT12, CC10 [=Cinclus Gray 1841 non Borkhausen 1797 CC10, Morinella Mayer & Wolf 1810 CC10, Strepsilas Illiger 1811 CC10; Arenariinae, Cinclinae, Morinellinae, Strepsilinae]

*Arenaria interpres (Linnaeus 1758) CC10 [=Tringa interpres CC10, *Cinclus interpres CC10, *Strepsilas interpres CC10, *Morinella collaris Meyer & Wolf 1810 CC10, S. collaris CC10; incl. Charadrius cinclus Pallas 1811 CC10, Arenaria interpres cinclus CC10, A. interpres nova Mathews 1917 WS48, Tringa oahuensis Bloxham in Byron 1826 CC10, Morinella interpres oahuensis CC10]

Coenocorypha aucklandica aucklandica (Gray 1845) [incl. Scolopax holmesii Peale 1848, Gallinago tristrami Rothschild 1893, Coenocorypha aucklandica tristrami] CC10

Phalaropus Brisson 1760 BKB15, CC10 [=Crymophilus Vieillot 1816 CC10, Phalaridopus Olphe-Galliard 1888 B94; incl. Lobipes Cuvier 1817 CC10, Steganopus Vieillot 1819 CC10; Lobipodinae, Phalaridopodidae, Phalaropodidae, Phalaropodinae]

*Phalaropus fulicarius (Linnaeus 1758) CC10, BKB15, CC10 [=Tringa fulicaria CC10, *Crymophilus fulicarius CC10]

Phalaropus lobatus (Linnaeus 1758) BKB15, CC10 [=Tringa tobata CC10, Lobipes lobatus CC10, T. lobata CC10; incl. T. hyperborea CC10, *Lobipes hyperboreus CC10]

*Xenus cinereus (Güldenstaedt 1774) [=Scolopax cinerea, Terekia cinerea, Tringa cinerea; incl. Totanus javanicus Horsfield 1821, *Terekia javanica, Scolopax terek Latham 1790, Tringa terek] CC10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

[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.

[HSS13] Hirschfeld, E., A. Swash & R. Still. 2013. The World's Rarest Birds. Princeton University Press: Princeton (New Jersey).

[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.

[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.

[SS66a] Sclater, P. L., & O. Salvin. 1866a. 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.

[SS66b] Sclater, P. L., & O. Salvin. 1866b. On some additions to the catalogue of birds collected by Mr. E. Bartlett on the River Ucayali. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 566–567.

[SWK87] Snyder, N. F. R., J. W. Wiley & C. B. Kepler. 1987. The Parrots of Luquillo: Natural history and conservation of the Puerto Rican parrot. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology: Los Angeles.

[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.

[U93] Unwin, D. M. 1993. Aves. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 717–737. Chapman & Hall: London.

[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.