Kingdom Animalia Class Aves Family Sternidae | Phylum Chordata Order Charadriiformes | |
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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
Genus Procelsterna
Genus Gygis
Noddies are reportedly a dietary staple on the island of Nauru.
References
Noddy (tern) Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA