Birds Guide

Larus
Herring Gull
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves   Order: Charadriiformes   Family: Laridae   Genus: Larus Linnaeus, 1758
species
Many, see list

Larus is a large genus of seabirds to which most gulls belong. It has a world-wide distribution, and many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges.

They are in general medium to large birds, typically grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They have stout, longish bills and webbed feet.

The taxonomy of the large gulls in the Herring and Lesser Black-backed complex is very complicated, different authorities recognising between two and eight species.

List of species in taxonomic order

• Dolphin Gull, Larus scoresbii
  Pacific Gull, Larus pacificus
  Belcher's Gull, Larus belcheri
  Olrog's Gull, Larus atlanticus
  Black-tailed Gull, Larus crassirostris
  Grey Gull, Larus modestus
  Heermann's Gull, Larus heermanni
  White-eyed Gull, Larus leucophthalmus
  Sooty Gull, Larus hemprichii
  Common Gull or Mew Gull, Larus canus
  Audouin's Gull, Larus audouinii
  Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis
  California Gull, Larus californicus
  Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus
  Kelp Gull, Larus dominicanus
  Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens
  Western Gull, Larus occidentalis
  Yellow-footed Gull, Larus livens
  Glaucous Gull, Larus hyperboreus
  Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides
  Thayer's Gull, Larus thayeri
  Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
  Heuglin's Gull, Larus heuglini
  American Herring Gull, Larus smithsonianus
  Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis
  Caspian Gull, Larus cachinnans
  East Siberian Herring Gull, Larus vegae
• 

  A Silver Gull at the pier of Sale, Australia
  

  A Herring Gull (front) and a Lesser Black-backed Gull (behind) in Poland: two species with clear differences.
• Armenian Gull, Larus armenicus
  Slaty-backed Gull, Larus schistisagus
  Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus
  Great Black-headed Gull, Larus ichthyaetus
  Brown-headed Gull, Larus brunnicephalus
  Grey-headed Gull, Larus cirrocephalus
  Hartlaub's Gull, Larus hartlaubii
  Silver Gull, Larus novaehollandiae
  Red-billed Gull, Larus scopulinus
  Black-billed Gull, Larus bulleri
  Brown-hooded Gull, Larus maculipennis
  Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus
  Slender-billed Gull, Larus genei
  Bonaparte's Gull, Larus philadelphia
  Saunders' Gull, Larus saundersi
  Andean Gull, Larus serranus
  Mediterranean Gull, Larus melanocephalus
  Relict Gull, Larus relictus
  Lava Gull, Larus fuliginosus
  Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla
  Franklin's Gull, Larus pipixcan
  Little Gull, Larus minutus

Ring species

The Larus gulls interbreed in a ring around the arctic

A classic example of ring species is the Larus gulls circumpolar species ring. The range of these gulls forms a ring around the North Pole. The Herring gull, which lives primarily in Great Britain, can breed with the American Herring gull (living in North America), which can also breed with the Vega Herring gull, which can breed with Birula's gull, which can breed with Heuglin's gull, which can breed with the Siberian lesser black-backed gull (all four of these live across the top of Siberia), which can breed with the Lesser Black-backed Gull back in Northern Europe, including Great Britain. However, the Lesser Black-backed gull and Herring gull are sufficiently different that they cannot interbreed; thus the group of gulls forms a ring species. A recent genetic study has shown that this example is far more complicated than presented here. For more information about this, see "The herring gull complex is not a ring species", D Liebers, P de Knijff, AJ Helbig, Biological Sciences, 2004 Volume 271.

References

• Harrison, Peter (1988): Seabirds (2nd ed.). Christopher Helm, London ISBN 0-7470-1410-8