Cabot's tern (''Thalasseus acuflavidus'') is a

tern Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists o ...

in the family

Laridae Laridae is a family of seabirds in the order Charadriiformes that includes the gulls, terns, skimmers and kittiwakes. It includes around 100 species arranged into 22 genera. They are an adaptable group of mostly aerial birds found worldwide. Ta ...

formerly considered as a subspecies of the

Sandwich tern The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and ele ...

. It has since been shown to be more closely related to the

elegant tern The elegant tern (''Thalasseus elegans'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It breeds on the Pacific coasts of the southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile. This species breeds in very dense colonies on co ...

(''Thalasseus elegans''). The genus name is from

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 ...

''Thalasseus'', "fisherman" from ''thalassa'', "sea". The specific ''acuflavida'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

from ''acus'', "needle", and ''flavidus'', "yellowish". The IOC recognizes the bird as distinct, but most other taxonomists, including both committees of the AOU, consider it conspecific with the Sandwich tern. The former species, ''T. s. eurygnatha'' (

Saunders Saunders is a surname of English and Scottish patronymic origin derived from Sander, a mediaeval form of Alexander.See also: Sander (name) People * Ab Saunders (1851–1883), American cowboy and gunman * Al Saunders (born 1947), American f ...

1876), is sometimes treated as a separate species called the Cayenne tern (''T. eurygnatha''), which breeds on the Atlantic coast of South America from

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

north to the Caribbean, intergrading with ''T. acuflavidus'' in the north of its range. The DNA analysis showed that Cayenne tern differed genetically from ''T. acuflavidus'', but the difference was not sufficient to confirm it as a definite separate species.

Distribution and subspecies

The species is widely distributed in

the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

.
There are two subspecies: *''T. a. acuflavidus'' (Cabot, 1847) − eastern North America to southern Caribbean. *''T. a. eurygnathus'' (

, 1876) − Cayenne tern, islands off

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

and

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France ...

, northern and eastern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

Gallery

File:Cabot's Tern fishing.jpg, Fishing near

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

File:Cabot's Tern in Flight.jpg, In flight, Sanibel,

File:Cabot's Tern RWD3.jpg, In

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia a ...

File:Cabot's Tern Thalasseus acuflavidus Puerto Quetzal Guatemala.jpg, South of

Puerto Quetzal Puerto Quetzal is Guatemala's largest Pacific Ocean port. It is important for both cargo traffic and as a stop-off point for cruise liners. It is located in Escuintla department, alongside the city of Puerto San José, which it superseded as ...

, Guatemala File:Cabot's Tern From The Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds.jpg, From the Crossley ID Guide Eastern Birds

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3498794 Cabot's tern Native birds of the Southeastern United States Birds of the Americas Cabot's tern