Pluvialis

Pluvialis is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds comprising four species that breed in the temperate or Arctic Northern Hemisphere.

Pluvialis
American golden plover (Pluvialis dominica)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Subfamily:	Charadriinae
Genus:	Pluvialis Brisson, 1760
Type species
Charadrius apricarius (= Pluvialis apricaria) Linnaeus, 1758
Species
see text

In breeding plumage, they all have largely black underparts, and golden or silvery upperparts. They have relatively short bills and feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as do longer-billed waders.

Taxonomy

The genus Pluvialis was described by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the European golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria) as the type species.^[1][2] The genus name is Latin and means relating to rain, from pluvia, "rain". It was believed that they flocked when rain was imminent.^[3]

The genus contains four species:^[4]

Breeding Plumage	Non-breeding Plumage	Common Name	Scientific name	Distribution
		European golden plover	Pluvialis apricaria	Arctic tundra and other palearctic areas
		Pacific golden plover	Pluvialis fulva	Arctic regions of Siberia and Alaska
		American golden plover	Pluvialis dominica	Arctic tundra from northern Canada and Alaska.
		Grey plover or black-bellied plover	Pluvialis squatarola	cosmopolitan

The American and Pacific golden plovers were formerly considered conspecific as "lesser golden plover".^[5]