Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Noddy (tern)

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Aves

Family
  
Sternidae

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Charadriiformes

Noddy (tern) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Representative species
  
Brown noddy, Black noddy, White tern, Lesser noddy, Blue noddy

Noddies are members of the tern family Sternidae in the genera Anous, Procelsterna, and Gygis. They are a tropical group, characterised by the notch-wedge shaped (not forked) tail; coastal and pelagic oceanic. Studies of mtDNA sequences (Bridge, 2005) have shown that the noddies are at least 2 groups that split off early from the ancestral terns at different points of time; the relationships of Procelsterna were not researched for lack of samples. It seems to represent either a third lineage linking the noddies and the marsh terns, or is closely related to Gygis.

Genus Anous

  • Brown noddy or common noddy, Anous stolidus
  • Black noddy, Anous minutus
  • Lesser noddy, Anous tenuirostris

    • Genus Procelsterna

  • Blue noddy, Procelsterna cerulea
  • Grey noddy, Procelsterna albivitta

    • Genus Gygis

  • White tern, Gygis alba
  • Little white tern, Gygis microrhyncha

    • Noddies are reportedly a dietary staple on the island of Nauru.

    References

    Noddy (tern) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA