Curlews, Godwits and Upland Sandpiper
The family, SCOLOPACIDAE, is made up of sixteen genera split between seven subfamilies. Subfamily TRINGINAE is itself split into three Tribes. This page covers the Tribe NUMENIINI, which comprises Curlews and Whimbrels in the genus Numenius, Godwits in the genus Limosa and Upland Sandpiper with its unique genus Bartramia.
Family: SCOLOPACIDAE (Rafinesque 1815)
Subfamily: TRINGINAE (Rafinesque 1815) Tribe: NUMENIINI
Genera: Three genera are recognised.
- Numenius – Greek; noumenios mentioned by Hesychius; noumenia new or young moon; neos new or young; mene moon (Brisson 1760).
- Limosa – Latin; limosus muddy (Brisson 1760).
- Bartramia – After William Bartram (1739-1823) (Lesson 1831).
Distribution
- Europe: Eurasian Whimbrel, Eurasian and Slender-billed Curlew, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit.
- Africa: Eurasian Whimbrel, Eurasian and Slender-billed Curlew, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit.
- Asia: Eurasian Whimbrel, Little, Far Eastern, Eurasian and Slender-billed Curlew, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit.
- Australasia: Eurasian Whimbrel, Little and Far Eastern Curlew, Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwit.
- North America; Hudsonian Whimbrel, Eskimo and Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper Hudsonian and Marbled Godwit.
- Central and South America: Hudsonian Whimbrel, Eskimo and Long-billed Curlew, Upland Sandpiper Hudsonian and Marbled Godwit.
Current Taxonomy: Fourteen species within the tribe NUMENIINI comprising nine species of curlew and whimbrel in the genus Numenius, four species of godwit Limosa and a single species Upland Sandpiper in the genus bartramia.
- Little Curlew Numenius minutus (Gould 1841)
- Eskimo Curlew N. borealis (Forster 1772)
- Eurasian Whimbrel N. phaeopus (Linnaeus 1758)
- Hudsonian Whimbrel N. hudsonicus (Latham 1790)
- Bristle-thighed Curlew N. tahitiensis (Gmelin 1789)
- Slender-billed Curlew N. tenuirostris (Vieillot 1817)
- Eurasian Curlew N. arquata (Linnaeus 1758)
- Far Eastern Curlew N. madagascariensis (Linnaeus 1766)
- Long-billed Curlew N. americanus (Bechstein 1812)
- Upland Sandpiper Bartramia longicauda (Bechstein 1812)
- Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa (Linnaeus 1758)
- Hudsonian Godwit L. haemastica (Linnaeus 1758)
- Bar-tailed Godwit L. lapponica (Linnaeus 1758)
Past Taxonomy:
- Hudsonian Whimbrel was, until recently, considered a subspecies of a single species simply known as Whimbrel. When the two were split the subspecies rufiventris, which is not universally accepted, became a subspecies of Hudsonian Whimbrel.
- The closely related Little and Eskimo Curlews were once considered to be conspecific.
- The closely related Black-tailed and Hudsonin Godwits were once considered to be conspecific.
- Race parvus of Long-billed Curlew was formerly labelled occidentalis, however, as the type specimen has been lost it cannot be verified and so parvus is now considered valid.
Possible Future Taxonomic Changes
- The subspecies vareigatus of Eurasian Whimbrel has been proposed as a potential split to full species level.
- The subspecies melanuroides of Black-tailed Godwit proposed as a separate species.
Bibliography
- BirdLife International: IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2020
- del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliot & Jordi Sargatal: Handbook of the Birds of the World – Vol. 3 (1996)
- Hayman, Peter, John Marchant & Tony Prater: Shorebirds – An identification guide to the waders of the world (1986)
- Jobling, James A.: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010)
- Seebohm, Henry: The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidae, or, The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and Their Allies (1888)
Click on an image for more information about the individual species.
