Kingdom Animalia Order Charadriiformes Scientific name Thalasseus Rank Genus | Phylum Chordata Family Sternidae Higher classification Tern | |
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Lower classifications Sandwich tern, Royal tern, Greater crested tern, Lesser crested tern, Elegant tern | ||
Royal tern thalasseus maximus
Thalasseus, the crested terns, is a genus of six species of seabirds in the tern family. The current genus name is derived from Greek Thalassa, "sea".
Contents
- Royal tern thalasseus maximus
- Crested tern thalasseus bergii
- List of species in taxonomic order
- References
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.
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.
Crested tern thalasseus bergii
List of species in taxonomic order
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.