Calidrine Sandpipers

The family, SCOLOPACIDAE, is made up of sixteen genera split between seven subfamilies. Subfamily CALIDRINAE comprises twenty-four species in just one genus, Calidris.

Family: SCOLOPACIDAE (Rafinesque 1815)

Subfamily: CALIDRINAE (Reichenbach 1849)

Genus: 

• Calidris – Greek; kalidris or skalidris grey-coloured waterside birds mentioned by Aristotle. (Merrem 1804)

Distribution

• Europe; Red Knot, Sanderling, Little and Temminck’s Stint, Dunlin, Curlew, Purple and Broad-billed Sandpiper and Ruff.
• Asia; Great and Red Knot, Sanderling, Red-necked, Little, Long-toed and Temminck’s Stint, Dunlin, Western, Baird’s, Pectoral, Sharp-tailed, Curlew, Purple, Rock, Buff-breasted, Spoon-billed and Broad-billed Sandpiper and Ruff.
• Africa; Red Knot, Sanderling, Little and Temminck’s Stint, Dunlin, Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpiper and Ruff.
• Australasia; Great and Red Knot, Sanderling, Red-necked, Long-toed Stint, Pectoral, Sharp-tailed, Curlew and Broad-billed Sandpiper.
• North America; Surfbird, Red Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Semipalmated, Western, Least, White-rumped, Baird’s, Pectoral, Purple, Rock, Stilt and Buff-breasted Sandpiper.
• Central and South America; Surfbird, Red Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Semipalmated, Western, Least, White-rumped, Baird’s, Pectoral, Stilt and Buff-breasted Sandpiper.

Current Taxonomy: Twenty-four species within the subfamily CALIDRINAE all of which are in a single genus Calidris.

• Surfbird Calidris virgata (Gmelin 1789)
• Great Knot C. tenuirostris (Horsfield 1821)
• Red Knot C. canutus (Linnaeus 1758)
  • ∗ C. c. canutus (Linnaeus 1758)
  • ∗ C. c. piersmai (Tomkovich 2001)
  • ∗ C. c. rogersi (Mathews 1913)
  • ∗ C. c. roselaari (Tomkovich 1990)
  • ∗ C. c. rufa (Wilson 1813)
  • ∗ C. c. islandica (Linnaeus 1767)
• Sanderling C. alba (Pallas 1764)
  • ∗ C. a. alba (Pallas 1764)
  • ∗ C. a. rubida (Gmelin 1789)
• Semipalmated Sandpiper C. pusilla (Linnaeus 1766)
• Western Sandpiper C. mauri (Cabanis 1857)
• Red-necked Stint C. ruficollis (Pallas 1776)
• Little Stint C. minuta (Leisler 1812)
• Temminck’s Stint C. temminckii (Leisler 1812)
• Long-toed Stint C. subminuta (Middendorf 1853)
• Least Sandpiper C. minutilla (Vieillot 1819)
• White-rumped Sandpiper C. fuscicollis (Vieillot 1819)
• Baird’s Sandpiper C. bairdii (Coues 1861)
• Pectoral Sandpiper C. melanotos (Vieillot 1819)
• Sharp-tailed Sandpiper C. acuminata (Horsfield 1821)
• Curlew Sandpiper C. ferruginea (Pontoppidan 1763)
• Purple Sandpiper C. maritima (Brünnich 1764)
• Rock Sandpiper C. ptilocnemis (Coues 1873)
  • ∗ C. p. quarta (Hartert 1920)
  • ∗ C. p. tschuktschorum (Portenko 1937)
  • ∗ C. p. ptilocnemis (Coues 1873)
  • ∗ C. p. couesi (Ridgway 1880)
• Dunlin C. alpina (Linnaeus 1758)
  • ∗ C. a. arctica (Schiøler 1922)
  • ∗ C. a. schinzii (Brehm & Schilling 1822)
  • ∗ C. a. alpina (Linnaeus 1758)
  • ∗ C. a. centralis (Buturlin 1932)
  • ∗ C. a. sakhalina (Vieillot 1816)
  • ∗ C. a. actites (Nechaev & Tomkovich 1988)
  • ∗ C. a. kistchinski (Tomkovich 1986)
  • ∗ C. a. arcticola (Todd 1953)
  • ∗ C. a. pacifica (Coues 1861)
  • ∗ C. a. hudsonia (Todd 1953)
• Spoon-billed Sandpiper C. pygmaea (Linnaeus 1758)
• Broad-billed Sandpiper C. falcinellus (Pontoppidan 1763)
  • ∗ C. f. falcinellus (Pontoppidan 1763)
  • ∗ C. f. sibirica (Dresser 1876)
• Stilt Sandpiper C. himantopus (Bonaparte 1826)
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper C. subruficollis (Vieillot 1819)
• Ruff C. pugnax (Linnaeus 1758)

Past Taxonomy:

• Surfbird used to be placed in a monotypic genus Aphriza (Audubon 1839).
• Spoon-billed Sandpiper used to be placed in a monotypic genus Eurynorhynchus (Nilsson 1821).
• Broad-billed Sandpiper used to be placed in a monotypic genus Limicola (Koch 1816).
• Stilt Sandpiper used to be placed in a monotypic genus Micropalama (Baird 1858).
• Buff-breasted Sandpiper used to be placed in a monotypic genus Tryngites (Cabanis 1857).
• Ruff used to be placed in a monotypic genus Philomachus (Merrem 1804),

Fossil Species

• Calidris pugnax rhyphaecus (Potopova 1990)

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.