Least Tern

SCI Name:  Sternula antillarum
Protonym:  Sternula antillarum OeuvresCompl.Buffon 20 p.256
Taxonomy:  Charadriiformes / Laridae / Sternula
Taxonomy Code:  leater1
Type Locality:  Guadeloupe, West Indies.
Author:  Lesson
Publish Year:  1847
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

STERNULA
(Laridae; Ϯ Little Tern S. albifrons) Dim. < genus Sterna Linnaeus, 1758, tern; "69. Familie.  Seeschwalben, Sterna.  ...  141. Gattung. Sternula.  361. minuta." (Boie 1822); "Sternula Boie, Isis, 1822, (1), col. 563, Mar., 1822—type, by monotypy, Sterna minuta Linnaeus = Sterna albifrons Pallas." (Hellmayr & Conover 1948, XIII, 301).
Var. Sternulla, Sternella.

STURNELLA
(Icteridae; Ϯ Eastern Meadowlark S. magna) L. sturnellus  little starling  < dim. sturnus  starling. Formerly the American icterids were included with the starlings in Sturnidae (hence the frequent use of Gr. ψαρ psar  starling in icterid genera); "79. STOURNELLE, Sturnella.  Sturnus, Linn. Gm. Lath.  Bec droit, entier, convexe en dessus, obtus et dilaté à la pointe; mandibule supérieure à base prolongée et arrondie dans les plumes du front. — Pouce plus fort et plus long que les doigts latéraux.   Esp. Stourne, ou Merle à fer-à-cheval, Buff." (Vieillot 1816); "Sturnella Vieillot, 1816, Analyse, p. 34. Type, by monotypy, "Stourne, ou Merle à fer-à-cheval" Buffon = Alauda magna Linnaeus." (Blake in Peters 1968, XIV, 177).
Var. Sturnellus, Sternella, Sturela, Sturnela.
Synon. Cirulus, Pedopsaris, Pezites, Trupialis.

antillarum / antillensis
Mod. L. Antillarum or Antillensis  of the Antilles, the islands of the West Indies (Antilia, a fictitious land or island of the Atlantic Ocean that appeared on mediaeval charts).

SUBSPECIES

Least Tern (browni)
SCI Name: Sternula antillarum browni
browni / brownii
● Peter Brown (?or Bruun) (fl. 1790) Danish/Norwegian natural history painter and botanical illustrator (syn. Accipiter badius).
● Herbert Brown (1843-1913) US newspaper owner, Curator of University of Arizona Mineral Mus. 1893-1913 (syn. Cyanocitta stelleri macrolopha).
● Wilmot Wood Brown, Jr. (?1868-1953) US field-naturalist, collector in Colombia, Panama and Mexico (subsp. Elaenia frantzii, syn. Grallaricula ferrugineipectus, subsp. Sicalis citrina, subsp. Spizella wortheni, Thryorchilus, syn. Vermivora crissalis, subsp. Vireo brevipennis).
● Revd. George Brown (1835-1917) Scottish missionary to Samoa, Fiji, Tonga, Solomon Is., Bismarck Archipelago and New Guinea (Reinwardtoena, Symposiachrus).
● Robert Brown (1773-1858) Scottish naturalist, botanist, collector in Australia 1801-1803 (syn. Malurus melanocephalus, syn. Platycercus caledonicus, syn. Platycercus venustus, syn. Pomatostomus temporalis rubeculus (OD per Björn Bergenholtz)).
● Edward Johnson Brown (1866-1934) US field-ornithologist, collector (subsp. Sternula antillarum).

Least Tern (athalassos)
SCI Name: Sternula antillarum athalassos
athalassos
Gr. αθαλασσος athalassos  inland, far from the sea  < negative prefix α- a- ; θαλασσα thalassa  sea.

Least Tern (antillarum)
SCI Name: Sternula antillarum antillarum
antillarum / antillensis
Mod. L. Antillarum or Antillensis  of the Antilles, the islands of the West Indies (Antilia, a fictitious land or island of the Atlantic Ocean that appeared on mediaeval charts).