Laridae

Many birds live near the sea.

This group includes gulls and terns. It also has skimmers and noddies. These birds live all over the world. Most of them love to fly in the sky. They can live in warm places. Some even live in very cold areas. Many birds nest by the coast. They also build nests in marshlands. They are very good at living in new places. It is fun to watch them fly.

Laridae is a big family of seabirds.

This group has 105 different species. It includes gulls, terns, noddies, and skimmers. These birds live all over the world. Most of them love to fly in the sky.

Scientists study how these birds are related. This is called taxonomy. In the past, people put them in different groups. Now, they are all in one family.

Some of these birds have special eyes. Gulls, skimmers, and noddies can see ultraviolet light. This is a type of light we cannot see. Terns do not have this trait.

These birds are very good at living in new places. This is called being adaptable. Most of them fly a lot. Their ancestors may have looked like birds that walk on beaches.

Many species nest near the coast or in marshlands. Some birds like warm places. Terns and skimmers often live in warm areas. But the Arctic tern can live in very cold places too. Some gulls live in the High Arctic. Others live in Antarctica. During some seasons, many of these birds fly far out to sea.

Laridae is a large family of seabirds.

This group includes gulls, terns, noddies, and skimmers. There are 105 different species in this family. These birds are found all over the world. Most of them are aerial birds. This means they spend a lot of time flying. They are very adaptable to different places. This ability helps them live in many habitats.

Scientists use taxonomy to group these birds. Taxonomy is the way we name and sort living things. In the past, scientists kept these birds in separate families. They put gulls in one group. They put terns in a group called Sternidae. They put skimmers in a group called Rynchopidae.

Later, researchers changed these groups. A study in 2007 by Baker and colleagues helped. They found that noddies belong with the others. This created one big group called Laridae. This group now includes many different types of birds.

Learning about their history is very interesting. The family name Laridae was first used in 1815. A man named Constantine Samuel Rafinesque named them.

Some scientists think these birds began to grow around 60 million years ago. This was in the early Paleocene period. This was after the age of the dinosaurs. However, a scientist named Gerald Mayr has questions. He thinks the dates might be different. The oldest fossils of these kinds of birds are 35 million years old. This was during the late Eocene.

These birds have many different subfamilies. The Larinae are the gulls. There are 25 species in the genus Larus.

The Rynchopinae are the skimmers. They have only 3 species in the genus Rynchops. The Gyginae are the white terns. The Anoinae are the noddies. The Sterninae include many types of terns. For example, the genus Sterna has 13 species. Some birds have special eyes to see ultraviolet light. Gulls, skimmers, and noddies have this special trait. Terns do not have it.

Where these birds live depends on the species. Many birds nest near coasts or in marshlands.

Terns and skimmers like warm, tropical areas. But the Arctic tern can live in very cold places. Some gulls live in the High Arctic. Other gulls live in Antarctica. Many birds fly far out to sea during certain seasons. Their ancestors may have been birds that walked on beaches. Now, most of them prefer to fly high in the sky. This helps them find food and move around the world.

Laridae is a diverse family of seabirds within the order Charadriiformes. This group includes several well-known types of birds, such as gulls, terns, noddies, and skimmers. Currently, the family contains 105 different species organized into 23 distinct genera. These birds are highly adaptable and can be found in almost every part of the world. Most members of this family are aerial birds, meaning they spend a large portion of their lives flying. This ability to fly and adapt has allowed them to spread across many different environments.

Scientists use taxonomy to classify and group these birds based on their relationships. The family name Laridae was introduced in 1815 by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. Historically, the classification was much more fragmented. Gulls were kept in their own group, while terns were placed in a family called Sternidae. Skimmers were categorized in a third family named Rynchopidae. In 1990, researchers Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist expanded the family to include auks and skuas. Later, a 2007 molecular phylogenetic study by Baker and colleagues changed things again. They discovered that noddies in the genus Anous were a sister group to gulls, skimmers, and terns. To ensure the family was monophyletic, or consisting of all descendants from a common ancestor, the families Sternidae and Rynchopidae were merged into Laridae.

The family is divided into several subfamilies that represent different lineages. The subfamily Larinae includes the gulls, which contains the large genus Larus with 25 species. The subfamily Rynchopinae consists of skimmers, represented by the genus Rynchops which has only 3 species. The subfamily Gyginae contains the white terns, such as the genus Gygis. The subfamily Anoinae includes the noddies, specifically the genus Anous which has 5 species. Finally, the subfamily Sterninae includes various terns. This subfamily is quite large and contains many genera, such as Sterna, which has 13 species, and Thalasseus, which has 7 species.

Understanding the evolutionary history of Laridae requires looking back millions of years. Baker and colleagues found that the Laridae lineage diverged from the ancestors of skuas and auks before the end of the Cretaceous period. This was the age of the dinosaurs. They also suggested that Laridae began to expand during the early Paleocene, roughly 60 million years ago. However, this timeline is a subject of scientific debate. The German paleontologist Gerald Mayr has questioned these early dates. He suggested that inappropriate fossils might have been used to calibrate the molecular data. The earliest known fossils of birds in the order Charadriiformes date to the late Eocene, about 35 million years ago.

Biological traits also help scientists distinguish between these different groups. Researchers Anders Ödeen and his colleagues studied how some shorebirds developed ultraviolet vision. They looked for a specific gene called the SWS1 opsin gene. Their research showed that this gene is present in the lineages of gulls, skimmers, and noddies. Interestingly, the tern lineage does not possess this specific trait. This discovery provides a way to see how different evolutionary paths led to different sensory abilities. The study also suggested that noddies might be an early lineage, though the evidence for this was not considered strong.

The distribution and habitat of Laridae species are incredibly widespread. While their ancestors may have been "beachcombing" birds that walked on shores, most modern species are much more aerial. Gull diversity is highest in the northern hemisphere at temperate latitudes. However, there are many exceptions to this pattern. The Ivory Gull lives in the High Arctic, while the kelp gull can be found as far south as Antarctica. Terns and skimmers generally prefer warmer temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions. A notable exception is the Arctic tern, which extends its range to polar latitudes in both hemispheres.

Many species change their behavior based on the time of year. During the breeding season, these birds typically nest in coastal regions or marshlands. When the nonbreeding season arrives, many species fly far offshore. In these periods, they often become pelagic, meaning they live in the open ocean. This movement between coasts and the open sea is a key part of their life cycle. Their ability to thrive in both coastal and deep-sea environments highlights the incredible adaptability of the Laridae family.