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Larinae
Sign in to saveAlso known as gull, seagull
thumb|right|Immature (probably 2nd year) Armenian gull in flight, flying over [[Lake Sevan]] Gulls or seagulls are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, and are placed with them in the family Laridae. They are also related, more distantly, to auks and skuas, and more distantly still to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the readoption and revision of several genera.
Larinae is a subfamily of seabirds commonly known as gulls or seagulls, which are most closely related to terns and skimmers within the family Laridae. The classification of gulls has changed significantly since the early 2000s, as scientists abandoned the previous system of grouping most species in a single genus and instead divided them into multiple genera to better reflect their evolutionary relationships.
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11 sectionsContents
- Description and morphology
- Distribution and habitat
- Behaviour
- Diet and feeding
- Breeding
- Taxonomy
- List of species
- Evolutionary history
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|right|Immature (probably 2nd year) Armenian gull in flight, flying over [[Lake Sevan]] Gulls or seagulls are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, and are placed with them in the family Laridae. They are also related, more distantly, to auks and skuas, and more distantly still to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the readoption and revision of several genera.
An older name for gulls is mew; this still exists in certain regional English dialects and is cognate with German , Danish ', Swedish ', Dutch ', Norwegian ', and French ''''; both 'gull' and 'mew' are ultimately onomatopoeic in origin, derived from the calls of the birds.