Rynchops
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The skimmers, forming the genus Rynchops (from Ancient Greek ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos), meaning "beak", and ὄψ (óps), meaning "face"), are tern-like birds in the family Laridae. The genus comprises three species found in South Asia, Africa, and the Americas. They were formerly known as the scissorbills.[1]
Description
The three species are the only birds with distinctive uneven bills, where the lower mandible is conspicuously longer than the upper.[2] This remarkable adaptation allows them to fish in a unique way, flying low and fast over lakes, streams, and lagoons.[3] Their lower mandible skims or slices over the water's surface, ready to snap shut any small fish unable to dart clear. The skimmers are now included within the gull and tern family Laridae, where they are positioned as a sister group of the terns and noddies.[4][5] Skimmers also have an additional adaptation in being the only genus of birds known to have vertical slit-shaped pupils.[2][6] The forehead, ends of the secondaries, tail feathers and under parts are white, the rest of the plumage is black and the basal half of the bill is crimson.[7] Their bills fall within their field of binocular vision, which enables them to carefully position their bill and capture prey.[8] They are agile in flight and gather in large flocks along rivers and coastal sand banks.[9]
They are tropical and subtropical species which lay 3–6 eggs on sandy beaches. The female incubates the eggs. Because of the species' restricted nesting habitat, the three species are vulnerable to disturbance at their nesting sites. One species, the Indian skimmer, is considered endangered by the IUCN due to this as well as destruction and degradation of the lakes and rivers it uses for feeding.[10]
Taxonomy
The genus Rynchops was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[11][a] The genus name Rynchops is from Ancient Greek ῥύγχος (rhúnkhos), meaning "beak", and ὄψ (óps), meaning "face".[13] The type species is the black skimmer (Rynchops niger).[14]
As in later editions of the works of Carl Linnaeus, the correct spelling should be Rhynchops and this is often adopted. However, the misspelling Rynchops was the one first published by Linnaeus and continues to be more commonly used.[15] Similarly, the gender of the Greek and Roman words is feminine and the genus was originally treated as such (R. nigra) but Rynchops is now usually treated as a masculine noun (R. niger).
Species
The genus contains three species.[16] Template:Species table
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Notes
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References
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- ^ Script error: No such module "template wrapper". (Subscription or participating institution membership required.).
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Hoyo, Josep del; Elliott, Andrew; Sargatal, Jordi (1992). Handbook of the Birds of the World: Hoatzin to auks. Vol. 3. pp. 668–677. ISBN 84-87334-20-2.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mariano-Jelicich, Rocío; Favero, Marco; Silva, María (2003). "Fish Prey Of The Black Skimmer Rynchops niger At Mar Chiquita, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina" (PDF). Marine Ornithology. 31 (2). doi:10.5038/2074-1235.31.2.581. ISSN 1018-3337.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Černý, David; Natale, Rossy (2022). "Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 177 107620. Bibcode:2022MolPE.17707620C. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620. PMID 36038056.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fain MG & Peter Houde (2007). "Multilocus perspectives on the monophyly and phylogeny of the order Charadriiformes (Aves)". BMC Evolutionary Biology. 7 (1): 35. Bibcode:2007BMCEE...7...35F. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-7-35. PMC 1838420. PMID 17346347.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Zusi, Richard L.; Bridge, David (1981). "On the Slit Pupil of the Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger)" (PDF). Journal of Field Ornithology. 52 (4). [Association of Field Ornithologists, Wiley]: 338–340. ISSN 0273-8570. JSTOR 27639259.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Reed, Chester A. (1914). "SKIMMERS. Family RYNCHOPIDÆ". The Bird Book: Illustrating in natural colors more than seven hundred North American birds; also several hundred photographs of their nests and eggs. p. 58 – via Project Gutenberg.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Martin, Graham R.; Mcneil, Raymond; Rojas, Luz Marina (2007). "Vision and the foraging technique of Skimmers (Rynchopidae)". Ibis. 149 (4): 750–757. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00706.x.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Fusco, P.J. (May–June 2006). "Spectacular and Intriguing - The Black Skimmer" (PDF). Connecticut Wildlife. Connecticut Department of Environment Protection Bureau of Natural Resources – Wildlife Division. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-09-14. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
- ^ Template:Cite iucn
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 138.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.David, N.; Dickinson, E.; Gregory, S. (2009). "Contributions to a list of first reviser actions: ornithology". Zootaxa. 2085 (1): 1–24. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2085.1.1.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 344. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 349.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Amaral, A do (1967). "Comment on the gender of names ending in -ops". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 24 (1): 2.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks – IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List – Version 15.1. 2025-02-20. Retrieved 2025-09-24.
External links
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- Skimmer videos on the Internet Bird Collection
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