West African Crested Tern
West African Crested Tern (<em>Thalasseus albididorsalis</em>) is a species of Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (<em>Laridae</em>) in the order Shorebirds, Gulls and Alcids.
Overview
West African Crested Tern (Thalasseus albididorsalis) is a species of Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae) in the order Shorebirds, Gulls and Alcids.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Thalasseus; binomial: Thalasseus albididorsalis; authority: (Hartert, EJO, 1921).
Distribution
Breeding range: Africa. Non-breeding range: to coasts of Morocco in n and s to Namibia.
Conservation Status
This taxon is listed as Extant (living) in the IOC World Bird List.
Remarks
Genetic analysis supports sister relation of T. m. albididorsalis to T. bengalensis, not Royal Tern T. maximus (Collinson et al. 2017). Elevation to species status (10.1) removes paraphyly. Split accepted by Chesser et al. (2020), NACC 2020-A-09, 2020-C-07. Subsequent morphometic analysis further supports the split of this species from T. maximus (Barlow et al. 2022).
