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Thinornis

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Thinornis
Shore plover (Thinornis novaeseelandiae)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Charadriidae
Subfamily: Charadriinae
Genus: Thinornis
G.R. Gray, 1845
Type species
Charadrius novaeseelandiae (shore plover)
Species

See text

Thinornis is a genus of plovers in the family Charadriidae.

Taxonomy

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The genus Thinornis was introduced in 1844 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray to accommodate a single species, Thinornis rossii G.R. Gray, which is now considered a junior synonym of Charadrius novaeseelandiae J.F. Gmelin, the shore plover.[1][2] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek this meaning "beach" or "sand" with ornis meaning "bird".[3] Genetic studies have shown that Thinornis is sister to the genus Charadrius.[4][5]

The genus contains seven species:[6]

ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Hooded ploverThinornis cucullatussouthern Australia, including Tasmania
Shore ploverThinornis novaeseelandiaeChatham Islands
Black-fronted dotterelThinornis melanopsAustralia, western Tasmania and New Zealand
Forbes's ploverThinornis forbesigrassland and rocky hillsides of western and central Africa
Three-banded ploverThinornis tricollarissouthern Egypt and sub-Saharan Africa
Long-billed ploverThinornis placidusManchuria and East Asia
Little ringed ploverThinornis dubiusEurasia

An additional species, the Auckland Islands shore plover (Thinornis rossii), known from just one specimen collected in 1840, is now generally considered to be a juvenile shore plover whose location was incorrectly recorded.[7]

References

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  1. Gray, George Robert (1844). "Birds". In Richardson, John; Gray, John Edward (eds.). The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror, Under the Command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross, During the Years 1839-43. Vol. 1: Mammals and Birds. London: E. W. Janson. pp. 1–20 [11–12].
  2. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 257.
  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  4. Dos Remedios, N.; Lee, P.L.M.; Burke, T.; Székely, T.; Küpper, C. (2015). "North or south? Phylogenetic and biogeographic origins of a globally distributed avian clade". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 89: 151–159. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.04.010.
  5. 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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620.
  6. AviList Core Team (2025). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2025". doi:10.2173/avilist.v2025. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
  7. Gill, Brian J.; Bell, B. D.; Chambers, G. K.; Medway, D. G.; Palma, R. L.; Scofield, R. P.; Tennyson, A. J. D.; Worthy, T. H. (2010). Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand (4th ed.). Wellington, N.Z.: Te Papa Press. ISBN 978-1-877385-59-9.

Further reading

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  • Les Christidis, Walter Boles: Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing. 2008. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6