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Charadriiformes

 
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Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s. It includes about 350 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 and has members in all parts of the world. Most Charadriiformes live near water and eat invertebrate
Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
s or other small animals; however, some are pelagic (sea birds), some occupy deserts and a few are found in thick forest.

order was formerly divided into three suborders:



The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy
Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....
, which has been widely accepted in America, lumps all the Charadriiformes together with the seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s and birds of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
 into a greatly enlarged order Ciconiiformes
Ciconiiformes

Traditionally, the order Ciconiiformes has included a variety of large, long-legged wading birds with large bills: storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, and several others....
.






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Biology of charadriiformes








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Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s. It includes about 350 species
Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
 and has members in all parts of the world. Most Charadriiformes live near water and eat invertebrate
Invertebrate

An invertebrate is an animal lacking a vertebral column. The group includes 98% of all animal species ? all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum vertebrate ....
s or other small animals; however, some are pelagic (sea birds), some occupy deserts and a few are found in thick forest.

Systematics

The order was formerly divided into three suborders:

  • The wader
    Wader

    Waders, called shorebirds in North America , are members of the order Charadriiformes, excluding the more marine web-footed seabird groups....
    s     (or "Charadrii"): typical shorebirds, most of which feed by probing in the mud or picking items off the surface in both coastal and freshwater environments.
  • The gull
    Gull

    Gulls are Aves in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, and skimmers, and more distantly to the waders....
    s     and their allies (or "Lari"): these are generally larger species which take fish from the sea. Several gulls and skua
    Skua

    Skuas are seabirds in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America.The name skua comes from Faroese language sk?gvur , and the island of Sk?voy is renowned for its colony of that bird....
    s will also take food items from beaches, or rob smaller species, and some have become adapted to inland environments.
  • The auk
    Auk

    Auks are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. They are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits....
    s     (or "Alcae") are coastal species which nest on sea cliffs and "fly" underwater to catch fish.


The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy
Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy

The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....
, which has been widely accepted in America, lumps all the Charadriiformes together with the seabird
Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adaptation to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behavior and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding ecological niche have resulted in similar adaptations....
s and birds of prey
Bird of prey

Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. Their claws and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
 into a greatly enlarged order Ciconiiformes
Ciconiiformes

Traditionally, the order Ciconiiformes has included a variety of large, long-legged wading birds with large bills: storks, herons, egrets, ibises, spoonbills, and several others....
. However, the resolution of the DNA-DNA hybridization technique used by Sibley & Ahlquist was not sufficient to properly resolve the relationships in this group, and indeed it appears as if the Charadriiformes consititute a single large and very distinctive lineage of modern birds of their own.

The auks, usually considered distinct because of their peculiar morphology, are more likely related to gulls, the "distinctness" being a result of adaptation for diving. Following recent research, a better arrangement may be as follows:

Families in taxonomic order

This is a list of the charadriiform families
Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is a taxonomic rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Codes which applies....
, presented in taxonomic order
Taxonomic order

Taxonomic sequence is an order followed in listing of taxa which aids ease of use and roughly reflects the phylogenys among the taxa. Taxonomic sequences can exist for taxa within any rank , that is, a list of families, genera, species can each have a sequence....
.
  • Suborder Scolopaci: snipe-like waders
    • Family Scolopacidae
      Scolopacidae

      The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, . Many of the smaller species are often called "sandpipers", especially members of genera Calidris, Tringa and Actitis....
      : snipe, sandpipers, phalaropes, and allies
  • Suborder Thinocori: aberrant charadriforms
    • Family Rostratulidae
      Painted snipe

      Painted snipes are three distinctive wader species in the Family Rostratulidae. The family is composed to two genera, Rostratula and Nycticryphes....
      : painted snipe
    • Family Jacanidae
      Jacana

      For the Melbourne suburb, see Jacana, Victoria.The jacanas or ja?anas are a group of tropical waders in the family Jacanidae....
      : jacanas
    • Family Thinocoridae
      Seedsnipe

      The seedsnipes are a family , Thinocoridae, of small gregarious waders which have adapted to a Herbivore diet. The family is divided into two genus, Attagis and Thinocorus, each containing two species....
      : seedsnipe
    • Family Pedionomidae
      Plains Wanderer

      The Plains Wanderer, Pedionomus torquatus, is a unique bird and is put in a family of its own. It is endemic to Australia....
      : Plains Wanderer
  • Suborder Lari
    Lari

    The suborder Lari is the part of the order Charadriiformes which includes the gulls, terns, skuas and skimmers, with the waders and snipes making up the rest of the order....
    : gulls and allies
    • Family Laridae
      Gull

      Gulls are Aves in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, and skimmers, and more distantly to the waders....
      : gulls
    • Family Rhynchopidae: skimmers
    • Family Sternidae
      Tern

      Terns are seabirds in the family Sternidae, previously considered a subfamily of the gull family Laridae . They form a lineage with the gulls and skimmers which in turn is related to skuas and auks....
      : terns
    • Family Alcidae
      Auk

      Auks are birds of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. They are superficially similar to penguins due to their black-and-white colours, their upright posture and some of their habits....
      : puffins, guillemots, murres, and allies
    • Family Stercorariidae
      Skua

      Skuas are seabirds in the family Stercorariidae. The three smaller skuas are called jaegers in North America.The name skua comes from Faroese language sk?gvur , and the island of Sk?voy is renowned for its colony of that bird....
      : skuas
    • Family Glareolidae
      Glareolidae

      Glareolidae is a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadri. It contains two distinct groups:*The pratincoles: these have short legs, long pointed wings and long forked tails....
      : pratincoles and coursers
    • Family Dromadidae
      Crab Plover

      The 'Crab Plover' is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family 'Dromadidae'. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear , some have considered it to be closely related to the thick-knees, or the pratincoles, while others have considered it closer to the auks and gulls....
      : Crab Plover
  • Suborder Turnici: buttonquails
    • Family Turnicidae: buttonquails
  • Suborder Chionidi: thick-knees and allies
    • Family Burhinidae
      Stone-curlew

      The Stone-curlews or Thick-knees are a group of largely tropical birds,in the family Burhinidae. Despite the group being classed as waders, most species have a preference for arid or semi-arid habitats....
      : thick-knees
    • Family Chionididae
      Sheathbill

      The sheathbills are a family of birds, Chionididae. Classified in the wader order Charadriiformes, the family contains one genus, Chionis, with only two species....
      : sheathbills
    • Family Pluvianellidae
      Magellanic Plover

      The Magellanic Plover, Pluvianellus socialis, is a rare and unique wader found only in southernmost South America. Its relationships with the plovers and other wader groups are uncertain, and it is often placed in its own family, Pluvianellidae....
      : Magellanic Plover
  • Suborder Charadrii: plover-like waders
    • Family Ibidorhynchidae
      Ibisbill

      The Ibisbill is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Ibidorhynchidae.It lives on the shingle riverbanks of the high plateau of central Asia and the Himalayas....
      : Ibisbill
    • Family Recurvirostridae
      Recurvirostridae

      Recurvirostridae is a family of birds in the wader suborder Charadrii. It contains two distinct groups of birds, the avocets and the stilts ....
      : avocets and stilts
    • Family Haematopodidae
      Oystercatcher

      The oystercatchers are a group of waders; they form the family Haematopodidae, which has a single genus, Haematopus. They are found on coasts worldwide apart from the polar regions and some tropical regions of Africa and South East Asia....
      : oystercatchers
    • Family Charadriidae
      Charadriidae

      The bird family Charadriidae includes the plovers, dotterels, and lapwings, about 64 to 66 species in all. They are small to medium-sized birds with compact bodies, short, thick necks and long, usually pointed, wings....
      : plovers and lapwings


More conservatively, the Thinocori could be included in the Scolopaci, and the Chionidi in the Charadrii, or the Glareolidae could be placed in a tribe of their own. The buttonquails are of indeterminate, quite basal
Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group form an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...
 position in the Lari-Scolopaci sensu lato group. The arrangement as presented here is a consensus of the recent studies.

Evolution

That the Charadriiformes are an ancient group is also borne out by the fossil record. Much of the Neornithes' fossil record around the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event is made up of bits and pieces of birds which resemble this order. In many, this is probably due to convergent evolution
Convergent evolution

Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action....
 brought about by semi-aquatic habits. Specimen VI 9901 (López de Bertodano Formation
Lopez de Bertodano Formation

The is a geological Formation in Antarctica whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation....
, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous

Late Cretaceous refers to the second half of the Cretaceous Period , named after the famous white chalk cliffs of southern England, which date from this time....
 of Vega Island
Vega Island

Vega Island is a small island to the northwest of James Ross Island, on the Antarctica Peninsula.It is one of several islands around the peninsula known as Graham Land, which is closer to South America than any other part of that continent....
, Antarctica) is probably a basal
Basal (phylogenetics)

In phylogenetics, a basal clade is the earliest clade to branch in a larger clade; it appears at the base of a cladogram.A basal group form an outgroup to the rest of the clade, such as in the following example:...
 charadriiform somewhat reminiscent of a thick-knee. However, more complete remains of undisputed charadriiforms are known only from the mid-Paleogene
Paleogene

The Paleogene is a geologic period that began 65.5 ? 0.3 and ended 23.03 ? 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic era....
 onwards. Present-day orders emerged around the Eocene
Eocene

The Eocene Geologic time scale is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Palaeogene period in the Cenozoic era....
-Oligocene
Oligocene

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Geologic Timescale and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present....
 boundary, roughly 35-30 mya
Mya (unit)

In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya or "m.y.a." is an abbreviation for "million years ago". Like the related unit bya, mya is traditionally written in lower case....
. Basal or unresolved charadriiforms are:
  • "Morsoravis" (Late Paleocene/Early Eocene of Jutland, Denmark) - a nomen nudum
    Nomen nudum

    The phrase nomen nudum is a Latin language term, meaning "naked name". In taxonomy, this is used to indicate a term or phrase which looks like a scientific name, and may well have been intended to become a scientific name, but fails to be one because it was not published with an adequate description , and thus is "bare" or "naked"....
    ?
  • Jiliniornis (Huadian Middle Eocene of Huadian, China) - charadriid?
  • Boutersemia (Early Oligocene of Boutersem, Belgium) - glareolid?
  • Turnipax (Early Oligocene) - turnicid?
  • Elorius (Early Miocene Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France)
  • "Larus" desnoyersii (Early Miocene of SE France) - larid? stercorarid?
  • "Larus" pristinus (John Day Early Miocene of Willow Creek, USA) - larid?
  • Charadriiformes gen. et sp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand) - charadriid? scolopacid?
  • Charadriiformes gen. et sp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand) - charadriid? scolopacid?
  • Charadriiformes gen. et sp. indet. (Bathans Early/Middle Miocene of Otago, New Zealand) - larid?
  • Charadriiformes gen. et sp. indet. (Sajóvölgyi Middle Miocene of Mátraszőlős, Hungary
  • "Totanus" teruelensis (Late Miocene of Los Mansuetos, Spain) - scolopacid? larid?


The "transitional shorebirds" ("Graculavidae") are a generally Mesozoic
Mesozoic

The Mesozoic Era is one of three Geologic time scale of the Phanerozoic eon . The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the 'Mesozoic' was 'Secondary' ....
 form taxon
Form taxon

Form taxon is a biological term with two uses:In general taxonomy, it is a kind of wastebasket taxon, either a taxon that is not a natural group but united by shared plesiomorphies, or a presumably artificial group of organisms whose true relationships are not known, being obscured by ecomorphological similarity....
 formerly believed to constitute the common ancestors of charadriiforms, waterfowl
Waterfowl

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, goose, and swans.They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies....
 and flamingo
Flamingo

Flamingos or flamingoes are wikt:gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus and family Phoenicopteridae. They are found in both the Western Hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere, but are more numerous in the latter....
s. They are now assumed to be mostly basal taxa of the charadriiforms and/or "higher waterbirds", which probably were two distinct lineages 65 mya
Mya (unit)

In astronomy, geology, and paleontology, mya or "m.y.a." is an abbreviation for "million years ago". Like the related unit bya, mya is traditionally written in lower case....
 already, and few if any are still believed to be related to the well-distinct weaterfowl. Taxa formerly considered graculavids are:
  • Laornithidae - charadriiform? gruiform?
    • Laornis
      Laornis

      Laornis is a genus of a prehistoric neornithine birds, known only from a single tibiotarsus leg bonediscovered in the late 1800s, of the single species Laornis edvardsianus....
       (Late Cretaceous?)
  • "Graculavidae"
    • Graculavus
      Graculavus

      Graculavus is a prehistoric bird genus that was described by O. C. Marsh. Its remains were found in the Late Cretaceous Austin Chalk of Texas and Lance Formation , and the controversial Hornerstown Formation which straddles the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary....
       (Lance Creek Late Cretaceous - Hornerstown Late Cretaceous/Early Palaeocene) - charadriiform?
    • Palaeotringa
      Palaeotringa

      Palaeotringa is a prehistoric bird genus that was discovered by O. C. Marsh during the bone wars. Its remains were found in the controversial Hornerstown Formation of New Jersey which straddles the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary some 66 million years ago....
       (Hornerstown Late Cretaceous?) - charadriiform?
    • Telmatornis
      Telmatornis

      Telmatornis is a prehistoric bird genus of unclear affiliations. It apparently lived in the Late Cretaceous; its remains were found in the early Maastrichtian Navesink Formation of New Jersey....
       (Navesink Late Cretaceous?) - charadriiform? gruiform?
    • Scaniornis
      Scaniornis

      Scaniornis is a prehistoric bird genus. The only species, Scaniornis lundgreni, lived in the MP 1-5 .It is known from a partial fossil skeleton of a right wing, namely the coracoid, scapula and humerus found at Limhamn and other bones found at Selk, Schleswig-Holstein ....
       - phoenicopteriform?
    • Zhylgaia
      Zhylgaia

      Zhylgaia is a genus of birds known only from fossils. Its remains have been recovered from a Late Cretaceous or Paleogene deposit in Central Asia....
       - presbyornithid?
    • Dakotornis
    • "Graculavidae" gen. et sp. indet. (Gloucester County, USA)


Other wader- or gull-like birds incertae sedis, which may or may not be Charadriiformes, are:
  • Ceramornis
    Ceramornis

    Ceramornis is a prehistoric bird genus from the Late Cretaceous. It lived shortly before the K-Pg mass extinction in the Maastrictian, some 67 million years ago ....
     (Lance Creek Late Cretaceous)
  • "Cimolopteryx
    Cimolopteryx

    "Cimolopteryx" is a controversial prehistoric bird genus from the Late Cretaceous. It lived around the Maastrichtian boundary, some 70 million years ago, perhaps a bit earlier in the Campanian....
    "     (Lance Creek Late Cretaceous)
  • Palintropus
    Palintropus

    Palintropus is a prehistoric bird genus from the Late Cretaceous. It lived in the Maastrichtian, some 69 million years ago. Its remains were found in the Lance Formation of North America....
     (Lance Creek Late Cretaceous)
  • Torotix
    Torotix

    Torotix is a Late Cretaceous genus of Aquatic animal bird. It lived along the shores of the Western Interior Seaway, but it is not clear whether it was a seabird or a freshwater bird, as it is only known from a humerus....
     (Late Cretaceous)
  • Volgavis (Early Paleocene of Volgograd, Russia)
  • Eupterornis (Paleocene of France)
  • Fluviatitavis (Early Eocene of Silveirinha, Portugal)


Footnotes