Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Cladus: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Euavialae
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Charadriiformes
Subordo: Lari
Familia: Laridae
Subfamilia: Sterninae
Genus: Thalasseus
Species: T. acuflavidus – T. albididorsalis – T. bengalensis – T. bergii – T. bernsteini – T. elegans – T. maximus - T. sandvicensis
Name
Thalasseus Boie, 1822
Type species
Thalasseus sandvicensis
Note:
Formerly often included in Sterna
References
Isis von Oken 10-11: 563.
Vernacular names
English: Crested Terns
Thalasseus, the crested terns, is a genus of eight species of terns in the family Laridae.
It has a worldwide distribution, and many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. This genus had originally been created by Friedrich Boie in 1822, but had been abandoned until a 2005 study confirmed the need for a separate genus for the crested terns.[1]
These large terns breed in very dense colonies on coasts and islands, and exceptionally inland on suitable large freshwater lakes close to the coast. They nest in a ground scrape.
Thalasseus terns feed by plunge-diving for fish, almost invariably from the sea. They usually dive directly, and not from the "stepped-hover" favoured by, for example, the Arctic tern. The offering of fish by the male to the female is part of the courtship display.
These species have long thin sharp bills, usually a shade of yellow or orange except in the Sandwich tern and Cabot's tern where the bills are black with yellow tips in most subspecies. All species have a shaggy crest. In winter, the Thalasseus terns' foreheads become white.
Taxonomy
The genus Thalasseus was erected by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822.[2] The type species was subsequently designated as the sandwich tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis).[3] The generic name is derived from the Ancient Greek Thalassa meaning "sea".[4]
List of species
The genus contains eight species:[5]
| Image | Name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Thalasseus maximus | Royal tern | US north to Virginia, occasionally drifting north to Maryland. The southern end of their breeding range is Texas. |
 |
Thalasseus bergii | Greater crested tern | from South Africa around the Indian Ocean to the central Pacific and Australia |
 |
Thalasseus bengalensis | Lesser crested tern | the Red Sea across the Indian Ocean to the western Pacific, and Australia |
| Thalasseus albididorsalis | West African crested tern | coasts of Mauritania to Guinea | |
 |
Thalasseus bernsteini | Chinese crested tern | Fujian Province, China, and wintering south to the Philippines |
 |
Thalasseus sandvicensis | Sandwich tern | northern Europe to Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas. |
 |
Thalasseus acuflavidus | Cabot's tern | North America to northern and eastern South America. |
 |
Thalasseus elegans | Elegant tern | southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile. |
An early Pliocene fossil bone fragment from the northeastern United States closely resembles a modern royal tern. It may be an unexpectedly early (3.7–4.8 million years before present) specimen of that species, or an ancestral member of the crested tern group.[6]
References
Bridge, Eli S.; Jones, Andrew W.; Baker, Allan J. (2005). "A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 35 (2): 459–469. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.12.010. PMID 15804415.
Boie, Friedrich (1822). "Generalübersicht". Isis von Oken (in German). Col 563.
Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 341.
Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Noddies, gulls, terns, auks". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
Olson, S., Rasmussen, P.C. "Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina" in Ray, C. E. & Bohaska, D.J. (2001). "Geology and Paleontology of the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, III." Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 90: 233-365.
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