Little white tern

The little white tern (Gygis microrhyncha) is a small seabird found in French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati.^[1] This species was previously considered a subspecies of the white tern (Gygis alba microrhyncha), but is now recognised as a separate species.^[2]

Little white tern
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Laridae
Genus:	Gygis
Species:	G. microrhyncha
Binomial name
Gygis microrhyncha Saunders, 1876

Taxonomy

The little white tern was first formally described by the British ornithologist Howard Saunders in 1876 under the binomial name Gygis microrhyncha^[3] meaning small (micro) bill (rhyncha). There are no recognized subspecies. Some authors have postulated that there may be three species of Gygis: Gygis alba, in the Atlantic Ocean, and Gygis candida and Gygis microrhyncha, both in the Pacific.^[4]

Description

The little white tern is much smaller and has a more slender bill than any subspecies of the common white tern.^[5] It has been described as a "compact, goggle-eyed bird with shorter, more rounded wings and less deeply forked tail" when compared to Gygis alba.^[4] The calamus or 'quill' of the feather in the little white tern are notably white compared to black calamus found in common white terns.^[6]

Distribution and habitat

The little white tern ranges throughout French Polynesia and the Republic of Kiribati, including the Phoenix and Line Islands,^[7] and was first described from three specimens from the Marquesas Islands.