''Tringa'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

wader 245px, A flock of Dunlins and Red knots">Red_knot.html" ;"title="Dunlins and Red knot">Dunlins and Red knots Waders or shorebirds are birds of the order Charadriiformes commonly found wikt:wade#Etymology 1, wading along shorelines and mudflat ...

s, containing the shanks and tattlers. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the

New Latin New Latin (also called Neo-Latin or Modern Latin) is the revival of Literary Latin used in original, scholarly, and scientific works since about 1500. Modern scholarly and technical nomenclature, such as in zoological and botanical taxonomy ...

name given to the

green sandpiper The green sandpiper (''Tringa ochropus'') is a small wader (shorebird) of the Old World. The green sandpiper represents an ancient lineage of the genus ''Tringa''; its only close living relative is the solitary sandpiper (''T. solitaria''). They ...

by the Italian naturalist

Ulisse Aldrovandi Ulisse Aldrovandi (11 September 1522 – 4 May 1605) was an Italian naturalist, the moving force behind Bologna's botanical garden, one of the first in Europe. Carl Linnaeus and the comte de Buffon reckoned him the father of natural history st ...

in 1599. They are mainly freshwater birds, often with brightly coloured legs as reflected in the English names of six species, as well as the specific names of two of these and the

. They are typically associated with northern hemisphere temperate regions for breeding. Some of this group—notably the green sandpiper—nest in trees, using the old nests of other birds, usually

thrushes The thrushes are a passerine bird family, Turdidae, with a worldwide distribution. The family was once much larger before biologists reclassified the former subfamily Saxicolinae, which includes the chats and European robins, as Old World flyca ...

. The

willet The willet (''Tringa semipalmata'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus ''Tringa''. Its closest relative is the lesser yel ...

and the tattlers have been found to belong in ''Tringa''; these genus changes were formally adopted by the American Ornithologists' Union in 2006. The present genus in the old, more limited sense was even further subdivided into ''Tringa'' proper and '' Totanus'', either as subgenera or as full genera. The available DNA sequence data suggests however that neither of these is monophyletic and that the latter simply lumps together a number of more of less closely related apomorphic species. Therefore, it seems unwarranted to recognize ''Totanus'' even as a subgenus for the time being.

Taxonomy

The

''Tringa'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in the tenth edition of his '' Systema Naturae''. The name ''Tringa'' is the

name given to the

by the Italian naturalist

in 1603 based on

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

''trungas'', a thrush-sized, white-rumped, tail-bobbing wading bird mentioned by

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

is the

(''Tringa ochropus'').

Species

The genus contains 13 species. *

Green sandpiper The green sandpiper (''Tringa ochropus'') is a small wader (shorebird) of the Old World. The green sandpiper represents an ancient lineage of the genus ''Tringa''; its only close living relative is the solitary sandpiper (''T. solitaria''). They ...

, ''Tringa ochropus'' * Solitary sandpiper, ''Tringa solitaria'' * Grey-tailed tattler, ''Tringa brevipes'' – formerly ''Heteroscelus brevipes'' * Wandering tattler, ''Tringa incana'' – formerly ''Heteroscelus incanus'' *

Spotted redshank The spotted redshank (''Tringa erythropus'') is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a ...

, ''Tringa erythropus'' *

Greater yellowlegs The greater yellowlegs (''Tringa melanoleuca'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America. Taxonomy ...

, ''Tringa melanoleuca'' *

Common greenshank The common greenshank (''Tringa nebularia'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'' ...

, ''Tringa nebularia'' *

Willet The willet (''Tringa semipalmata'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It is a relatively large and robust sandpiper, and is the largest of the species called "shanks" in the genus ''Tringa''. Its closest relative is the lesser yel ...

, ''Tringa semipalmata'' – formerly ''Catoptrophorus semipalmatus'' *

Lesser yellowlegs The lesser yellowlegs (''Tringa flavipes'') is a medium-sized shorebird. It breeds in the boreal forest region of North America. Taxonomy The lesser yellowlegs was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in ...

, ''Tringa flavipes'' *

Nordmann's greenshank Nordmann's greenshank (''Tringa guttifer'') or the spotted greenshank, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. Description The Nordmann's greenshank is a medium-sized sandpiper, at long, with a slightly upturned, bicol ...

, ''Tringa guttifer'' * Marsh sandpiper, ''Tringa stagnatilis'' *

Common redshank The common redshank or simply redshank (''Tringa totanus'') is a Eurasian wader in the large family Scolopacidae. Taxonomy The common redshank was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his ...

, ''Tringa totanus'' * Wood sandpiper, ''Tringa glareola'' File:Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) at Bharatpur I IMG 5552.jpg, ''Tringa'' legs are either red (

, ''T. erythropus''), ... File:Lesser Yellowlegs.jpg, ... yellow (

, ''T. flavipes''), ... File:Common greenshank (Tringa nebularia) Bahrain.jpg, ... pale green (

, ''T. nebularia''), ... File:Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochropus) at Bharatpur I IMG 5691.jpg, ... or ochre ( Wood sandpiper, ''T. glareola'')

Systematics and evolution

The shanks' and tattlers' closest relatives are

sandpiper Sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

s of the genera ''

Actitis ''Actitis'' is a small genus of waders, comprising just two very similar bird species. Taxonomy The genus ''Actitis'' was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Illiger. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''aktites'', "coast-dwelle ...

'' and '' Xenus''. Together with these, they are related to the phalaropes, as well as the turnstones and

calidrid ''Calidris'' is a genus of Arctic-breeding, strongly migratory wading birds in the family Scolopacidae. These birds form huge mixed flocks on coasts and estuaries in winter. They are the typical "sandpipers", small to medium-sized, long-winged ...

s.van Tuinen ''et al.'' (2004) The large

''Tringa'' and the two very small genera which are most closely related form a

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spe ...

similar to the situation found in many other shorebird lineages such as

snipe A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterized by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/ camouflaging plumage. The ''Gallinago'' snipes have a ...

s and

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...

s, or

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...

s. The same study has indicated that some morphological characters such as details of the

furcula The (Latin for "little fork") or wishbone is a forked bone found in most birds and some species of non-avian dinosaurs, and is formed by the fusion of the two pink clavicles. In birds, its primary function is in the strengthening of the thoracic ...

and pelvis have evolved convergently and are no indicators of close relationship. Similarly, the leg/foot color wildly varies between close relatives, with the

spotted redshank The spotted redshank (''Tringa erythropus'') is a wader (shorebird) in the large bird family Scolopacidae. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'', a ...

, the

greater yellowlegs The greater yellowlegs (''Tringa melanoleuca'') is a large shorebird in the family Scolopacidae. It breeds in central Canada and southern Alaska and winters in southern North America, Central America, the West Indies and South America. Taxonomy ...

, and the

common greenshank The common greenshank (''Tringa nebularia'') is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae, the typical waders. The genus name ''Tringa'' is the New Latin name given to the green sandpiper by Aldrovandus in 1599 based on Ancient Greek ''trungas'' ...

for example being more closely related among each other than to any other species in the group; the ancestral coloration of the legs and feet was fairly certainly drab buffish as in e.g. the

. On the other hand, the molecular

reveals that the general habitus and size as well as the overall plumage pattern are good indicators of an evolutionary relationship in this group. The

, a rare and endangered species, was not available for molecular analyses. It is fairly aberrant and was formerly placed in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

genus ''Pseudototanus''. It appears closest overall to the ''semipalmata-flavipes'' and the ''stagnatilis-totanus-glareola'' groups, though it also has some similarities to the

and

Fossil recordMlíkovský (2002)

Fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

shanks are known since the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...

, possibly even since the Eo-/ Oligocene some 33-30

million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago) ...

(mya) which would be far earlier than most extant genera of birds. However, it is uncertain whether ''Tringa edwardsi'' indeed belongs into the present-day genus or is a distinct, ancestral form. The time of the ''Tringa''-''

''-'' Xenus''-'' Phalaropus'' divergence has been tentatively dated at 22 mya, the beginning of the Miocene; even if the dating is largely conjectural, it suggests that ''T. edwardsi'' does indeed not belong into the modern genus. Molecular dating—which is not too reliable, however—indicates that the diversification into the known lineages occurred between 20 and 5 mya. The fossil record contains species formerly separated in ''Totanus'' from the Early Miocene onwards. Although these are usually known from very scant remains, the fact that apparently apomorphic ''Tringa'' as well as a putative phalarope are known from about 23-22 mya indicates that the shank-phalarope group had already diverged into the modern genera by the start of the Miocene. The biogeography of living and fossil species—notably, the rarity of the latter in well-researched North American sites—seems to suggest that ''Tringa'' originated in Eurasia. Time and place neatly coincide with the disappearance of the last vestiges of the

Turgai Sea The Turgai Sea, also known as the Turgay Sea, Turgai Strait, Obik Sea, Ural Sea or West Siberian Sea, was a large shallow body of salt water (an epicontinental or epeiric sea) during the Mesozoic through Cenozoic Eras. It extended north of the pre ...

, and this process may well have been a major factor in the separation of the genera in the shank-phalarope clade. Still, scolopacids are very similar osteologically, and many of the early fossils of presumed shanks require revaluation. * ?''Tringa edwardsi'' (Quercy Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of Mouillac, France) * ?''Tringa gracilis'' (Early Miocene of WC Europe) –

? * ?''Tringa lartetianus'' (Early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France) * ''Tringa'' spp. (Early Miocene of Ravolzhausen, Germany – Early Pleistocene of Europe)Apparently at least three species at Stránská skála (Czech Republic, Early Pleistocene) for example: Mlíkovský (2002) * ?''Tringa grivensis'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France) * ?''Tringa majori'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France) * ?''Tringa minor'' (Middle Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France) – includes ''"Erolia" ennouchii''; calidriid? * ?''Tringa grigorescui'' (Middle Miocene of Ciobăniţa, Romania) * ?''Tringa scarabellii'' (Late Miocene of Senigallia, Italy) * ''Tringa'' sp. 1 (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA) * ''Tringa'' sp. 2 (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Lee Creek Mine, USA) * ?''Tringa numenioides'' (Early Pliocene of Odessa, Ukraine) * ''Tringa antiqua'' (Late Pliocene of Meade County, USA) * ''Tringa ameghini'' (Late Pleistocene of Talara Tar Seeps, Peru) ''"Tringa" hoffmanni'' is now in '' Ludiortyx''. While its relationships are disputed, it was not a charadriiform.

References

Sources

* Ballmann, Peter (1969): Les Oiseaux miocènes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère) he Miocene birds of Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère) '' Geobios'' 2: 157–204. rench with English abstract * Banks, Richard C.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr.; Rising, James D. & Stotz, Douglas F. (2006)
Forty-seventh Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds
'' Auk'' 123(3): 926–936. DOI: 10.1642/0004-8038(2006)123 26:FSTTAO.0.CO;2 * Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002):
Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe
'. Ninox Press, Prague. * Olson, Storrs L. (1985): Section X.D.2.b. Scolopacidae. ''In:'' Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): ''Avian Biology'' 8: 174–175. Academic Press, New York. * Paton, Tara A.; Baker, Allan J.; Groth, J.G. & Barrowclough, G.F. (2003): "RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds." '' Mol. Phylogenet. Evol.'' 29(2): 268–278. * Pereira, Sérgio Luiz & Baker, Alan J. (2005)
Multiple Gene Evidence for Parallel Evolution and Retention of Ancestral Morphological States in the Shanks (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae)
''

Condor Condor is the common name for two species of New World vultures, each in a monotypic genus. The name derives from the Quechua ''kuntur''. They are the largest flying land birds in the Western Hemisphere. They are: * The Andean condor (''Vu ...

'' 107(3): 514–526. DOI: 10.1650/0010-5422(2005)107 514:MGEFPE.0.CO;2 * van Tuinen, Marcel; Waterhouse, David & Dyke, Gareth J. (2004)
Avian molecular systematics on the rebound: a fresh look at modern shorebird phylogenetic relationships
'' J. Avian Biol.'' 35(3): 191–194. {{Taxonbar, from=Q41972 Bird genera