SCOLOPACIDAE

The 'Scolopacidae' are a large family of waders, (known as shorebirds in North America). Many of the smaller species are often called "'sandpipers'", especially members of genera ''Calidris'', ''Tringa'' and ''Actitis''.
This large family is often further subdivided into groups of similar birds. These groups do not necessarily consist of a single genus, but as presented here they do form distinct monophyletic evolutionary lineages (Thomas ''et al'', 2004). The groups, with species numbers in parentheses, are:

★ Curlews (8, genus ''Numenius'')

★ Upland Sandpiper (1, genus ''Bartramia'')

★ Godwits (4, genus ''Limosa'')

★ Dowitchers (3, genus ''Limnodromus'')

★ Snipe and woodcocks (about 25, genera ''Coenocorypha'', ''Lymnocryptes'', ''Gallinago'' and ''Scolopax'')

★ Ruff (1, genus ''Philomachus'')

★ Phalaropes (3, genus ''Phalaropus'')

★ Shanks and tattlers (16, genera ''Xenus'', ''Actitis'', and ''Tringa'' which now includes ''Catoptrophus'' and ''Heteroscelus'')

★ Polynesian sandpipers (1 extant, 3-5 extinct, genus ''Prosobonia'')

★ Calidrids and turnstones (about 25, mostly in ''Calidris'' which might be split up into several genera. Other genera currently accepted are ''Aphriza'', ''Eurynorhynchus'', ''Limicola'', ''Tryngites'', and ''Philomachus'', in addition to the 2 ''Arenaria'' turnstones)
The majority of species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. Different lengths of bills enable different species to feed in the same habitat, particularly on the coast, without direct competition for food.

Contents

References

External links

References

★ 'Thomas', Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A. & Székely, Tamás (2004): A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. ''BMC Evol. Biol.'' '4': 28. PDF fulltext Supplementary Material

External links

★ Scolopacidae videos on the Internet Bird Collection

★ Shorebirds of Australia Photos