PBDB Taxon

Basic info	Taxonomic history	Classification	Included Taxa
Morphology	Ecology and taphonomy	External Literature Search	Age range and collections

Sterna (tern)

Reptilia - Charadriiformes - Laridae

Taxonomy

Sterna was named by Linnaeus (1758). It is extant. Its type is Sterna hirundo. It is the type genus of Sterninae.

It was assigned to Longipennes by Shufeldt (1891); to Sterninae by Hay (1930), Wetmore (1956) and Chandler (1990); to Sternidae by Smith (2011); and to Laridae by Hay (1902), Lambrecht (1933), Olson (1975), Olson and James (1982), Parmalee (1992), Olson and Rasmussen (2001), Mlikovsky (2002), Worthy and Grant-Mackie (2003) and Clements et al. (2017).

Species

S. forsteri, S. hirundo (type species), S. milneedwardsi, S. paradisaea, S. striata, S. sumatrana, S. vittata

Synonymy list

Year	Name and author
1758	Sterna Linnaeus
1891	Sterna Shufeldt p. 818
1902	Sterna Hay p. 525
1930	Sterna Hay p. 341
1933	Sterna Lambrecht p. 545
1956	Sterna Wetmore p. 77
1975	Sterna Olson p. 28
1982	Sterna Olson and James p. 37
1990	Sterna Chandler p. 136
1992	Sterna Parmalee p. 314
2001	Sterna Olson and Rasmussen p. 269
2002	Sterna Mlikovsky p. 138
2003	Sterna Worthy and Grant-Mackie p. 451
2011	Sterna Smith p. 30 figs. Figure 14
2017	Sterna Clements et al.

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Rank	Name	Author
kingdom	Animalia	()
—	Bilateria
—	Eubilateria	Ax 1987
—	Deuterostomia
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1874
subphylum	Vertebrata
superclass	Gnathostomata
—	Osteichthyes	()
subclass	Sarcopterygii	()
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha	(Nelson 2006)
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha	()
—	Tetrapoda
—	Reptiliomorpha
—	Anthracosauria
subclass	Amphibiosauria	Kuhn 1967
—	Cotylosauria	()
—	Amniota
—	Sauropsida
class	Reptilia
subclass	Eureptilia	()
—	Romeriida
—	Diapsida	()
—	Archosauromorpha	(Huene 1946)

Rank	Name	Author
—	Crocopoda
—	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
—	Eucrocopoda
—	Archosauria	()
informal	Avemetatarsalia
—	Ornithodira
—	Dinosauromorpha
—	Dinosauriformes
—	Dinosauria	()
—	Theropoda	()
—	Neotheropoda
—	Averostra	Paul 2002
—	Tetanurae
—	Coelurosauria	()
—	Maniraptora
—	Paraves
class	Aves
order	Charadriiformes	Huxley 1867
suborder	Lari	Sharpe 1891
infraorder	Larides
superfamily	Laroidea	Stejneger 1885
family	Laridae	Vigors 1825
genus	Sterna

If no rank is listed, the taxon is considered an unranked clade in modern classifications. Ranks may be repeated or presented in the wrong order because authors working on different parts of the classification may disagree about how to rank taxa.

G. Sterna Linnaeus 1758 [tern]

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Sterna forsteri Nuttall 1834 [Foster's tern]

Sterna hirundo Linnaeus 1758 [common tern]

†Sterna milneedwardsi Riabinin 1931

Sterna paradisaea Pontoppidan 1763 [Arctic tern]

Sterna striata Gmelin 1789 [white-fronted tern]

Sterna sumatrana Raffles 1822 [black-naped tern]

Sterna vittata Gmelin 1789 [Antarctic tern]

Diagnosis

No diagnoses are available

Measurements

No measurements are available

Composition:

hydroxyapatiteo

Entire body:

yeso

Adult length:

10 to < 100o

Adult width:

1.0 to < 10o

Adult height:

1.0 to < 10o

Architecture:

compact or denseo

Ontogeny:

accretion, modification of partso

Grouping:

solitaryo

Environment:

marineo

Locomotion:

actively mobileo

Life habit:

ground dwellingo

Diet:

carnivoresubo

Reproduction:

oviparouso

Dispersal:

direct/internalo

Dispersal 2:

mobileo

Created:

2017-04-17 10:41:05

Modified:

2017-04-17 10:41:05

Source: subo = suborder, o = order

References: Bush and Bambach 2015, Benton 1983, Marsh 1875

Age range

Maximum range based only on fossils: base of the Blancan to the top of the Holocene or 4.90000 to 0.00000 Ma
Minimum age of oldest fossil (stem group age): 1.8 Ma

Collections (24 total)

Time interval	Ma	Country or state	Original ID and collection number
Blancan	4.9 - 1.8	USA (California)	Sterna sp. (178010)
Calabrian	1.8 - 0.774	USA (Virginia)	Sterna sp. (104698)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	Spain (Santander)	Sterna paradisaea (125320)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (Oregon)	Sterna forsteri (93251 176222)
Late/Upper Pleistocene (interglacial)	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (Alabama)	Sterna sp. (84181)
Late/Upper Pleistocene	0.129 - 0.0117	USA (California)	Sterna paradisaea (123918)
Late/Upper Pleistocene - Holocene	0.129 - 0.0	Russian Federation	Sterna sp. (194812)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Palau	Sterna sumatrana (209736)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Antarctica	Sterna vittata (177180)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Canada (Quebec)	Sterna paradisaea (51005)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	New Zealand	Sterna striata (100554 194616 194618 194619)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Canada (Nunavut)	Sterna paradisaea (160848 228756 228927)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Northern Mariana Islands	Sterna sp. (194627)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Canada (Yukon)	Sterna paradisaea (228443)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Mexico (Chiapas)	Sterna sp. (195047)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	South Africa	Sterna hirundo (177146)
Holocene	0.0117 - 0.0	Micronesia, Federated States of	Sterna sp., Sterna sumatrana (194650) Sterna sumatrana (194651)