Ringed Plovers

The family Charadriidae is very large with seventy species listed and is split into subfamilies.

The subfamily Charadriinae contains forty-two species in nine genera;

Charadrius (4), Thinornis (7), Anarhynchus (25), Oreopholus (1) Phegornis (1), Hoploxypterus (1) Eudromias (1), Zonibyx (1) and Peltohyas (1). We have further divided this group into three sections.

Section 1 Ringed Plovers.

Family: CHARADRIIDAE (Leach 1820)

Subfamily: CHARADRIINAE (Leach 1820)

Genera: There are 4 species of plover within the Charadrius genus, 7 species in Thinornis and a further 25 within the Anarhynchus genus; all but one of which (Wrybill A. frontalis) were previously in Charadrius.

  • Charadrius – Late Latin; charadrius yellowish bird mentioned in the Vulgate Bible (late 4th century) (Greek; kharadrios unknown plain-coloured nocturnal birds that dwelt in ravines and river valleys (kharadra ravine) (Linnaeus 1758)
  • Thinornis – Greek – this beach, sand; ornis bird (Gray, G. 1845)
  • Anarhynchus – Greek – ana backwards; rhunkhos bill (Quoy & Gaimard 1830)

Distribution

  • Europe: Common Ringed, Little Ringed.
  • Africa: Common Ringed, Little Ringed, Three-banded, Forbes’.
  • Asia: Common Ringed, Long-billed, Little Ringed.
  • Australasia: Hooded, Shore, Black-fronted.
  • North America: Common Ringed, Semipalmated, Killdeer, Piping.
  • Central and South America: Semipalmated, Killdeer, Piping.

Current Taxonomy: Three species. Painted-snipes are closely related to jacanas and are commonly placed in a superfamily with them called Jacanoidea.

Past Taxonomy: Has been very confusing due to this families apparent affinities to other groups such as rails and true snipes.

  • Ægialitis or Aegialitis (Boie 1822) is an old synonym for Charadrius but is no longer recognised in favour of the latter.
  • Wilson’s Plover subspecies Charadrius (now Anarhynchus). w. crassirostris (Carlos and Voisin 2011) was formerly called C. w. brasiliensis (Grantsau 2008). According with the International code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) this change meant that Greater Sandplover subspecies C. l. crassirostris (Severtzov 1873) had to be remnamed C. l. scythicus (Carlos, Roselaar & Voisin 2012).
  • Mongolian and Lesser Sandplover were considered subspecies of Lesser Sandplover Charadrius mongolus. In 2022 a study showed that they were sufficiently different to warrant specific status creating Siberian Sandplover C. mongolus/stegmanniand and Tibetan Sandplover C. atrifrons/schaeferi/pamirensis. Both now in the genus Anarhynchus joining the only species originally in this genus Wrybill A. frontalis. Full List;
    • New Zealand Plover A. obscurus
    • Wilson’s Plover A. wilsonia
    • Madagascar Plover A. thoracicus
    • Kittlitz’s Plover A. pecuarius
    • St Helena Plover A. sanctaeheleniae
    • Kentish Plover A. alexandrinus
    • Snowy Plover A. nivosus
    • Javan Plover A. javanicus
    • White-faced Plover A. dealbatus
    • White-fronted Plover A. marginatus
    • Red-capped Plover A. ruficapillus
    • Malaysian Plover A. peronii
    • Chestnut-banded Plover A. pallidus
    • Collared Plover A. collaris
    • Puna Plover A. alticola
  • Northern and Southern Red-breasted Plover were formerly split having been called New Zealand Dotterel and were considered subspecies Charadrius obscurus obscurus and Charadrius o. aquilonius. In the 2025 Avilist they are once again returned to a single species New Zealand Plover as Anarhynchus obscurus.
  • The 2025 Avilist moved 7 Charadrius plovers Long-billed, Little Ringed, Hooded, Shore, Black-fronted, Forbes’s, Three banded to Thinornis.

Bibliography

  • Avibase https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org
  • BirdLife International. IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2020
  • Carlos, C. J. & J-F. Voisin (2012). Charadrius wilsonia brasiliensis Grantsau & Lima, 2008, is a junior synonym of Charadrius crassirostris Spix, 1825: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 131 (1): 165–170.
  • Carlos, C. J., S. Roselaar & J-F. Voisin (2012). A replacement name for Charadrius leschenaultii crassirostris (Severtzov, 1873), a subspecies of Greater Sand Plover: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 132 (1): 63–65.
  • del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliot & Jordi Sargatal. Handbook of the Birds of the World – Vol. 3 (1996)
  • Grantsau, R. & P. C. Lima (2008). Uma nova subespécie de Charadrius wilsonia (Aves, Charadriiformes) para o Brasil: Atualidades Ornitológicas. 142: 4–5.
  • Hayman, Peter, John Marchant & Tony Prater. Shorebirds – An identification guide to the waders of the world (1986)
  • HBW Alive https://www.hbw.com
  • Jobling, James A. Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010)
  • Kennerley, P. R., D. N.Bakewell , P. D. Round. Rediscovery of a long-lost Charadrius plover from South-East Asia. Forktail 24, 63–79 (2008)
  • Seebohm, Henry. The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidae, or, The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and Their Allies (1888)
  • Wei, Chentao, Manuel Schweizer, Pavel S Tomkovich, Vladimir Yu Arkhipov, Michael Romanov, Jonathan Martinez, Xin Lin, Naerhulan Halimubieke, Pinjia Que, Tong Mu, Qin Huang, Zhengwang Zhang, Tamás Székely, Yang Liu. Genome-wide data reveal paraphyly in the sand plover complex (Charadrius mongolus/leschenaultii) (2022)

Click on an image for more information about the individual species.

Genus Charadrius

COMMON RINGED PLOVER
Least Concern
KILLDEER
Near Threatened
PIPING PLOVER
Near Threatened
SEMIPALMATED PLOVER
Least Concern

Genus Thinornis

BLACK-FRONTED PLOVER
Least Concern
FORBES’S PLOVER
Least Concern
HOODED PLOVER
Vulnerable
LITTLE RINGED PLOVER
Least Concern
LONG-BILLED PLOVER
Least Concern
SHORE PLOVER
Endangered
THREE-BANDED PLOVER
Least Concern

Genus Anarhynchus

CASPIAN PLOVER
Least Concern
CHESTNUT-BANDED PLOVER
Near Threatened
COLLARED PLOVER
Near Threatened
DOUBLE-BANDED PLOVER
Near Threatened
GREATER SANDPLOVER
Least Concern
JAVAN PLOVER
Near Threatened
KENTISH PLOVER
Least Concern
KITTLITZ’S PLOVER
Least Concern
MADAGASCAN PLOVER
Vulnerable
MALAYSIAN PLOVER
Near Threatened
MOUNTAIN PLOVER
Near Threatened
NORTHERN RED-BREASTED PLOVER
Near Threatened
ORIENTAL PLOVER
Least Concern
PUNA PLOVER
Least Concern
RED-CAPPED PLOVER
Least Concern
SIBERIAN SANDPLOVER
Endangered
SNOWY PLOVER
Near Threatened
ST HELENA PLOVER
Vulnerable
TIBETAN SAND PLOVER
Least Concern
TWO BANDED PLOVER
Least Concern
WHITE-FACED PLOVER
Least Concern
WHITE-FRONTED PLOVER
Least Concern
WILSON’S PLOVER
Least Concern
WRYBILL
Near Threatened

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