Larus

Not to be confused with Laurus.
For other uses, see Larus (disambiguation).

Larus
Great black-backed gull Larus marinus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Subfamily: Larinae
Genus: Larus
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Larus marinus
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See list

Larus is a large genus of gulls with worldwide distribution (by far the greatest species diversity is in the Northern Hemisphere).

Many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. Until about 2005–2007, most gulls were placed in this genus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of the genera Chroicocephalus, Ichthyaetus, Hydrocoloeus, and Leucophaeus for many other species formerly included in Larus.

They are in general medium-large birds, typically pale grey to black above and white below and on the head, often with black markings with white spots ("mirrors") on their wingtips and in a few species also some black on the tail. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet; in winter, the head is often streaked or smudged dark grey. The young birds are brown, and take three to five years to reach adult plumage, with subadult plumages intermediate between the young and adult.[1]

The taxonomy of the large gulls in the herring and lesser black-backed complex is complicated, with different authorities recognising from two species in the past, increasingly up to eight species more recently.

Taxonomy

The genus Larus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[2] The genus name is from Ancient Greek laros (λάῥος) or Latin larus, which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird.[3]

The type species is the great black-backed gull (Larus marinus).[4][5] The Latin name Larus marinus translates as "sea gull", and the gulls in this genus generally are the species most often known colloquially as "seagulls".

Species

The genus contains 25 extant species.[6]

Genus Larus – Linnaeus, 1758 – twenty five species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Pacific gull

Larus pacificus
Latham, 1801

Two subspecies
  • L. p. pacificus Latham, 1801
  • L. p. georgis King, 1826
Australia. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Belcher's gull

Larus belcheri
Vigors, 1829 		the Pacific coast of South America.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Black-tailed gull

Larus crassirostris
Vieillot, 1818 		coasts of the East China Sea, Japan, Manchuria and the Kuril Islands, to western Alaska in North America. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Olrog's gull

Larus atlanticus
Olrog, 1958 		Atlantic coast of southern Brazil, Uruguay, and northern Argentina.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 NT 



Heermann's gull

Larus heermanni
Cassin, 1852 		Pacific coast of the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 NT 


Common gull

Larus canus
Linnaeus, 1758

Three subspecies
 northern Palearctic (northern Europe, northern Asia), wintering south to the Mediterranean and China.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Short-billed gull or mew gull

Larus brachyrhynchus
Richardson, 1831 		northwestern North America.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Ring-billed gull

Larus delawarensis
Ord, 1815 		Canada and the northern United States, wintering south to the Caribbean.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Yellow-footed gull

Larus livens
Dwight, 1919 		Gulf of California in Mexico.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Western gull

Larus occidentalis
Audubon, 1839 		from British Columbia, Canada to Baja California, Mexico.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Caspian gull

Larus cachinnans
Pallas, 1811 		Black and Caspian Seas and adjacent river basins, extending east into Central Asia; wintering west into Europe and south to the coasts of Arabia.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Kelp gull (called southern black-backed gull or karoro in New Zealand)

Larus dominicanus
(Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)

Five subspecies
  • L. d. dominicanus, (Lichtenstein, 1823)
  • L. d. vetula, (Bruch, 1853)
  • L. d. judithae, (Jiguet, 2002)
  • L. d. melisandae, (Jiguet, 2002)
  • L. d. austrinus, (Fleming, 1924)
Antarctic Peninsula, southern South America, southern Africa, Southern Ocean Islands, southeastern Australia, and New Zealand.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


European herring gull

Larus argentatus
Pontoppidan, 1763

Two subspecies
  • L. a. argentatus – Pontoppidan, 1763
  • L. a. argenteus – Brehm & Schilling, 1822
northern and northwestern Europe.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Vega gull (or East Siberian gull)

Larus vegae
Palmén, 1887 		northeastern Siberia, wintering in Japan, Korea, southern and eastern China, and Taiwan. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Mongolian gull

Larus mongolicus
(Sushkin, 1925) 		Mongolia and southeastern Russia, wintering in Japan, Korea, southern and eastern China, and Taiwan. Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Yellow-legged gull

Larus michahellis
Naumann, 1840

Two subspecies
  • L. m. michahellis Naumann, 1840
  • L. m. atlantis (Dwight, 1922), syn. Larus fuscus atlantis, Dwight, 1922
Mediterranean Sea and Macaronesia, dispersing north as far as the British Isles after breeding.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Larus armenicus
Buturlin, 1934 		interior Turkey, the Caucasus and the Middle East, wintering in the eastern Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Great black-backed gull

Larus marinus
Linnaeus, 1758 		northwest European coasts, northeast North American coasts, and islands of the North Atlantic.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Glaucous gull

Larus hyperboreus
Gunnerus, 1767

Four subspecies
  • L. h. hyperboreus, Gunnerus, 1767
  • L. h. pallidissimus, Portenko, 1939
  • L. h. barrovianus, Ridgway, 1886
  • L. h. leuceretes, Schleep, 1819
Arctic Ocean coasts, wintering in the North Atlantic and North Pacific as far south as the British Isles and northernmost states of the United States, also on the Great Lakes.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Lesser black-backed gull

Larus fuscus
Linnaeus, 1758

Five subspecies
 Atlantic coasts of Europe and northwest Asia, wintering south to central Africa and India.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


California gull

Larus californicus
Lawrence, 1854

Two subspecies
  • L. c. californicus Lawrence, 1854
  • L. c. albertaensis Jehl, 1987
western interior North America from the Northwest Territories, Canada south to eastern California and Colorado, wintering south to western Mexico.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


American herring gull

Larus smithsonianus
Coues, 1862 		North America from central and southern Alaska to the Great Lakes and northeast coast of the United States from Maine south to North Carolina, wintering south to the Caribbean.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Glaucous-winged gull

Larus glaucescens
Naumann, 1840 		Pacific Ocean coasts of Russia and Alaska to the coast of Washington, wintering south to Japan and northwest Mexico.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Slaty-backed gull

Larus schistisagus
Stejneger, 1884 		northeastern coasts of Asia, wintering south to eastern China.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 



Iceland gull

Larus glaucoides
Meyer, B, 1822

Three subspecies
 Arctic Ocean coasts of Canada and Greenland, wintering from Iceland south to the British Isles and the far northeast USA, with subspecies thayeri wintering on the Pacific coast of North America.
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Fossils

Fossils of Larus gulls are known from the Middle Miocene, about 20-15 million years ago; allocation of earlier fossils to this genus is generally rejected. Biogeography of the fossil record suggests that the genus evolved in the northern Atlantic and spread globally during the Pliocene, when species diversity seems to have been highest, as with most seabirds.

  • Larus sp. (Middle Miocene of Grund, Austria)
  • Larus sp. (Middle Miocene of Romania)[7]
  • Larus sp. (Late? Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, U.S.) - several species[7]
  • Larus elmorei (Middle Pliocene of Bone Valley, southeastern U.S.)
  • Larus lacus (Late Pliocene of Pinecrest, southeastern U.S.)
  • Larus perpetuus (Pliocene of southeastern U.S.)
  • Larus sp. (San Diego Late Pliocene of the southwestern U.S.)
  • Larus oregonus (Late Pliocene - Late Pleistocene of the west-central U.S.)
  • Larus robustus (Late Pliocene - Late Pleistocene of the west-central U.S.)
  • Larus sp. (Late Pleistocene of Lake Manix western U.S.)

"Larus" raemdonckii (Early Oligocene of Belgium) is now at least tentatively believed to belong in the procellariiform genus Puffinus. "L." elegans (Late Oligocene?/Early Miocene of St-Gérand-le-Puy, France) and "L." totanoides (Late Oligocene?/Early Miocene of southeastern France) are now in Laricola, while "L." dolnicensis (Early Miocene of the Czech Republic) was actually a pratincole; it is now placed in Mioglareola.

The Early Miocene "Larus" desnoyersii (southeastern France) and "L." pristinus (John Day Formation, Willow Creek, U.S.) probably do not belong in this genus; the former may be a skua.[8]

Ring species

The Larus gulls formerly interpreted as a ring around the Arctic: 1. L. fuscus graellsii & L. f. intermedius (Western European lesser black-backed gulls); 2. L. fuscus fuscus (North East European lesser black-backed gull); 3. L. fuscus heuglini (Heuglin's gull); 4. L. vegae birulai (Birula's gull); 5. L. vegae sensu stricto (Vega gull); 6. L. smithsonianus (American herring gull); 7. L. argentatus (European herring gull)

The circumpolar group of Larus gull species has often been cited as a classic example of the ring species. The range of these gulls forms a ring around the North Pole. The European herring gull, which lives primarily in Great Britain and Northern Europe, can hybridize with the American herring gull (living in North America), which can also interbreed with the Vega or East Siberian gull, the western subspecies of which, Birula's gull, can hybridize with Heuglin's gull which, in turn, can interbreed with the Siberian lesser black-backed gull (all four of these live across the north of Siberia). The last is the eastern representative of the lesser black-backed gulls back in northwestern Europe, including Great Britain. However, the lesser black-backed gulls and herring gull are sufficiently different that they rarely interbreed; thus, the group of gulls forms a continuum except in Europe, where the two lineages meet. However, a recent genetic study has shown that this example is far more complicated than presented here, and probably does not constitute a true ring species.[9]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Olsen, Klaus Malling; Larsen, Hans (2003). Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America. London: Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-7087-5.
  2. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 136.
  3. ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. ^ Selby, Prideaux John (1840). A Catalogue of the Generic and Sub-Generic Types of the Class Aves, Birds, Arranged According to the Natural System. Newcastle: T. and J. Hodgson. pp. 48–49.
  5. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 313.
  6. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Noddies, gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, auks". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
  7. ^ a b Olson, Storrs L. (1985): Section X.D.2.j. Laridae. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 181-182. Academic Press, New York.
  8. ^ (Olson, 1985).
  9. ^ Liebers, Dorit; de Knijff, Peter & Helbig, Andreas J. (2004). "The herring gull complex is not a ring species". Proc. R. Soc. B. 271 (#1542): 893–901. doi:10.1098/rspb.2004.2679. PMC 1691675. PMID 15255043.Supplemental material: Electronic appendices