Marsh tern

Marsh terns
Black-fronted tern Chlidonias albostriatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Sternidae
Genus:	Chlidonias Rafinesque, 1822
Species
Chlidonias niger Chlidonias leucopterus Chlidonias hybridus Chlidonias albostriatus

The name marsh tern refers to terns of the genus Chlidonias, which are typically found in freshwater marshes, rather than coastal locations.

There are four species:

• Black tern, Chlidonias niger (or nigra)
• White-winged tern or white-winged black tern, Chlidonias leucopterus (or leucoptera)
• Whiskered tern, Chlidonias hybrida (or hybridus)
• The Black-fronted tern, Chlidonias albostriatus (formerly Sterna albostriata) is now also recognized to belong to this genus (Bridge et al., 2005).

Notice the hesitation in the gender of the epiteth of the scientific names, as they are usually masculine (albostriatus, leucopterus or niger), but in the case of the Whiskered tern is mostly used as feminine (hybrida), maybe from the influence of the previous gender used, Sterna.

The black-bellied tern (Sterna acuticauda) and the white-cheeked tern (Sterna repressa) might also be placed in Chlidonias.

The scientific name derives from the Greek for "swallow-like".

References

• Bridge, E. S.; Jones, A. W. & Baker, A. J. (2005): A phylogenetic framework for the terns (Sternini) inferred from mtDNA sequences: implications for taxonomy and plumage evolution. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35: 459–469. PDF fulltext.