''Gallinago'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of birds in the

wader 245px, A flock of 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 mudflats in order to foraging, ...

family

Scolopacidae Scolopacidae is a large family of shorebirds, or waders, which mainly includes many species known as sandpipers, but also others such as woodcocks, curlews and snipes. Most of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil ...

, containing 18 species.

Taxonomy

The name ''Gallinago'' was introduced by the French zoologist

Mathurin Jacques Brisson Mathurin Jacques Brisson (; 30 April 1723 – 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosophy, natural philosopher. Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendée department of western France. Note that page 14 ...

in 1760 as a subdivision of the

''Scolopax''. Brisson did not use

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

binomial system of nomenclature In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

and although many of Brisson's genera had been adopted by ornithologists, his subdivision of genera were generally ignored. Instead, the erection of the genus ''Gallinago'' for the

snipes Snipes may refer to: * 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. '' ...

was credited to the German zoologist

Carl Ludwig Koch Carl Ludwig Koch (21 September 1778 – 23 August 1857) was a German entomologist and arachnologist. He was responsible for classifying a great number of spiders, including the Brazilian whiteknee tarantula and common house spider. He was born ...

in a book published in 1816. But in 1920 it was discovered that the German naturalist Johann Samuel Traugott Frenzel had erected the genus ''Capella'' for the snipes in 1801. As his publication predated Koch's use of ''Gallinago'' it took precedence. The

American Ornithologists' Union The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

switched to ''Capella'' in 1921 and in 1934 the American ornithologist

James L. Peters James Lee Peters (August 13, 1889 – April 19, 1952) was an American ornithologist. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Dr. Austin Peters and Francis Howie Lee on August 13, 1889. His early education was at the Roxbury Latin School, followed ...

used ''Capella'' for the woodcocks in his influential ''Check-list of Birds of the World''. This all changed in 1956 when the

International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) is an organization dedicated to "achieving stability and sense in the scientific naming of animals". Founded in 1895, it currently comprises 26 commissioners from 20 countries. Orga ...

ruled that ''Gallinago'' Brisson 1760 should have priority for the genus with the

common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. Distribution and habitat The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution li ...

as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

. The scientific name ''gallinago'' is

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

for a

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of sandpipers 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 ...

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. ''Gallinago'' snipe have a nearly ...

from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''gallina'', "hen" and the suffix ''-ago'', "resembling". The genus contains 18 species: * Solitary snipe, ''Gallinago solitaria'' * Latham's snipe, ''Gallinago hardwickii'' * Wood snipe, ''Gallinago nemoricola'' *

Pin-tailed snipe Pintail snipe head and bill The pin-tailed snipe or pintail snipe (''Gallinago stenura'') is a species of bird in the family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers. Distribution It breeds in northern Russia and migrates to spend the non-breeding season i ...

, ''Gallinago stenura'' *

Swinhoe's snipe Swinhoe's snipe, (''Gallinago megala''), also known as forest snipe or Chinese snipe, is a medium-sized (length 27–29 cm, wingspan 38–44 cm, weight 120 gm), long-billed, migratory wader. The common name commemorates the British na ...

, ''Gallinago megala'' * African snipe, ''Gallinago nigripennis'' * Madagascar snipe, ''Gallinago macrodactyla'' *

Magellanic snipe The Magellanic snipe (''Gallinago magellanica'') is a bird in tribe Scolopancinai and subfamily Scolopacinae of family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers and relatives.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and Bird ...

, ''Gallinago magellanica'' *

Great snipe The great snipe (''Gallinago media'') is a small stocky wader in the genus ''Gallinago''. This bird's breeding habitat is marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in north-eastern Europe, including north-western Russia. Great snipes are bird ...

, ''Gallinago media'' *

Common snipe The common snipe (''Gallinago gallinago'') is a small, stocky wader native to the Old World. Distribution and habitat The breeding habitats are marshes, bogs, tundra and wet meadows throughout the Palearctic. In the north, the distribution li ...

, ''Gallinago gallinago'' *

Wilson's snipe Wilson's snipe (''Gallinago delicata'') is a small, stocky shorebird. The generic name ''Gallinago'' is Neo-Latin for a woodcock or snipe from Latin ''gallina'', "hen" and the suffix ''-ago'', "resembling". The specific name ''delicata'' is ...

, ''Gallinago delicata'' *

Pantanal snipe The Pantanal snipe (''Gallinago paraguaiae'') is a bird in tribe Scolopancinai and subfamily Scolopacinae of family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers and relatives.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife ...

, ''Gallinago paraguaiae'' *

Puna snipe The puna snipe (''Gallinago andina'') is a bird in tribe Scolopancinai and subfamily Scolopacinae of family Scolopacidae, the sandpipers and relatives.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife Interna ...

, ''Gallinago andina'' *

Noble snipe The noble snipe (''Gallinago nobilis'') is a small stocky wader. It breeds in the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela above or just below the treeline. It is entirely sedentary. Description This 30–32.5 cm long snipe has a ...

, ''Gallinago nobilis'' *

Giant snipe The giant snipe (''Gallinago undulata'') is a stocky wader. It breeds in South America. The nominate subspecies ''G. u. undulata'' occurs in two distinct areas, one in Colombia, and the other from Venezuela through Guyana, Suriname and French Gui ...

, ''Gallinago undulata'' *

Fuegian snipe The Fuegian snipe (''Gallinago stricklandii'') also known as the cordilleran snipe, is a small stocky wader. It breeds in south-central Chile and Argentina south to Tierra del Fuego. It is mainly sedentary, but the Tierra del Fuego population w ...

, ''Gallinago stricklandii'' * Jameson's snipe, ''Gallinago jamesoni'' * Imperial snipe, ''Gallinago imperialis'' This genus contains the majority of the world's snipe

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, the other two extant genera being ''

Coenocorypha The austral snipes, also known as the New Zealand snipes or tutukiwi, are a genus, ''Coenocorypha'', of tiny birds in the sandpiper family (biology), family, which are now only found on New Zealand outlying islands, New Zealand's outlying islands ...

'', with three species, and ''

Lymnocryptes The jack snipe or jacksnipe (''Lymnocryptes minimus'') is a small stocky wader. It is the smallest snipe, and the Monotypic taxon, only member of the genus ''Lymnocryptes''. Features such as its sternum and its continuous 'bobbing up and down' m ...

'', the jack snipe. Morphologically, they are all similar, with a very long slender bill and cryptic

plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...

. Most have distinctive displays, usually given at dawn or dusk. They search for

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. Fossil bones of some undescribed ''Gallinago'' species most similar to the

great snipe The great snipe (''Gallinago media'') is a small stocky wader in the genus ''Gallinago''. This bird's breeding habitat is marshes and wet meadows with short vegetation in north-eastern Europe, including north-western Russia. Great snipes are bird ...

have been recovered in Late

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 ...

or Early

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58mya) of Lee Creek Mine, USA. The large

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

species '' Gallinago kakuki'' went extinct during the late

Quaternary The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS), as well as the current and most recent of the twelve periods of the ...

period, and despite its distribution may actually be more closely related to Old World snipe species than New World ones.

References

{{Authority control Bird genera