Lapwing

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Lapwing (disambiguation).

Lapwings
Blacksmith lapwing (Vanellus armatus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Subfamily: Vanellinae
Bonaparte, 1842
Genera

Erythrogonys

Vanellus
Hoploxypterus

and see text

Lapwings (

dotterels
. They range from 10 to 16 inches (25 to 41 cm) in length, and are noted for their slow, irregular wingbeats in flight and a shrill, wailing cry.

The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing", and "dotterel" do not correspond exactly to current taxonomic models; thus, several of the Vanellinae are often called plovers, and

Charadriinae
) are known colloquially as lapwings. In general, a lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover.

In Europe's Anglophone countries, lapwing refers specifically to the northern lapwing, the only member of this group to occur in most of the continent and thus the first bird to go by the English name lapwing (also known as peewit or pyewipe).

In the fanciful taxonomy promoted by medieval courtesy books, a group of lapwings was called a "deceit".[1]

Systematics

See also: Vanellus

While authorities generally agree that there are approximately 25 species of Vanellinae, classifications within the subfamily remain confused. Some workers[

Hoploxypterus for the pied plover
.

Many coloration details of the red-kneed dotterel also occur here and there among the living members of the main lapwing

lipochromic (probably red) bill with a black tip. Its legs were most likely black or the color of the bill's base.[3]

Evolution

"Birdsong at Carrington Moss"
A lapwing and a
chaffinch at Carrington Moss, in England
Problems playing this file? See media help.

The

monotypic subfamily, reliably dating its divergence from a selection of true lapwings and plovers would also give a good idea of charadriid wader
evolution altogether.

A mid-

basal Charadriidae a few million years earlier. However, the assignment of fragmentary fossils to Charadriinae or Vanellinae is not easy. Thus, it is very likely that the charadriid waders originate around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary – roughly 40–30 mya – but nothing more can be said at present. If the Belgian fossil is not a true lapwing, there are actually no Vanellinae fossils known before the Quaternary.[4]

The

Early Oligocene fossil Dolicopterus[5] from Ronzon, France may be such an ancestral member of the Charadriidae or even the Vanellinae, but it has not been studied in recent decades and is in dire need of review.[6]

Apart from the

Viator has been described from fossils. Its remains were found in the tar pits of Talara in Peru and it lived in the Late Pleistocene. Little is known of this rather large lapwing; it may actually belong in Vanellus.[7]

The remaining

scolopacid waders. The evolutionary trend regarding the Charadriidae – which make up most of the diversity of the Charadrii – thus runs contrary to Cope's Rule.[3]

List of species in taxonomic order

Genus Vanellus

Genus Hoploxypterus

  • Pied lapwing
    , Hoploxypterus cayanus

Genus Erythrogonys

Footnotes

  1. ISBN 978-0-670-30044-0
    .
  2. ^ Piersma & Wiersma (1996), Thomas et al. (2004)
  3. ^ a b Piersma & Wiersma (1996)
  4. ^ Piersma & Wiersma (1996), Mlíkovský (2002)
  5. ^ Not Dolichopterus, contra Mlíkovský (2002)
  6. ^ Mlíkovský (2002)
  7. ^ Campbell (2002)

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vanellus.
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