The family Charadriidae is very large with seventy species listed and is split into subfamilies.
The subfamily Charadriinae contains forty-five species of the genera Pluvialis (4), Charadrius (34), Elseyornis (1), Thinornis (2), Anarhynchus (1), Phegornis (1), Oreopholus (1) and Hoploxypterus (1). We have further divided this group into three sections.

Section 3, Other Plovers appear on this page.

Family: CHARADRIIDAE (Leach 1820)

Subfamily: CHARADRIINAE (Leach 1820)

Genera: There are six species of plover within five genera in the group which we define as Other Plovers.

  • Anarhynchus – Greek; ana– backwards; rhunkhos bill (Quoy & Gaimard 1830).
  • Elseyornis – After Joseph Ravenscroft Elsey (1834-1858) Greek; ornis bird (Mathews, G. 1914).
  • Oreopholus – Greek; oreopolos haunting mountains (oros mountain; poleo to range over) (Jardine & Selby 1835).
  • Phegornis – Greek; phengos light, splendour; ornis bird (Gray, G.1846).
  • Thinornis – Greek; this beach, sand; ornis bird (Gray, G. 1845).
  • Hoploxypterus – Greek; hoplon weapon; oxus sharp; pteros winged (Bonaparte 1860).
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  • Australasia: Wrybill, Black-fronted Dotterel, Hooded Plover, Shore Plover.
  • South America: Tawny-throated Dotterel, Diademed Sandpiper-Plover, Pied Plover.

∗ O. r ruficollis (Wagler 1829)
∗ O. r. pallidus (Carricker 1935)

A great deal of movement has happened in the taxonomy of the non typical ringed plovers. Some species which originally had a genus of their own are now considered Charadrius (Linnaeus 1756), Inland Dotterel formerly Peltohyas (Sharpe 1896) and Eurasian Dotterel Eudromias (Brehm 1830) the latter not being accepted by all authorities. Conversely some species that were hitherto considered to be Charadrius plovers even until recently, such as Hooded and Shore Plover, which have now been removed to a genus together (Thinornis), have been reassigned to the genera above. One species, the Pied Plover was originally placed in Charadrius, then moved to the current genus, but for a while was removed and placed in Vanellus from where it was returned to Hoploxypterus.
  • BirdLife International: IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2020
  • del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliot & Jordi Sargatal: Handbook of the Birds of the World – Vol. 3 (1996)
  • Hayman, Peter, John Marchant & Tony Prater: Shorebirds – An identification guide to the waders of the world (1986)
  • Jobling, James A.: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010)
  • Seebohm, Henry: The Geographical Distribution of the Family Charadriidae, or, The Plovers, Sandpipers, Snipes, and Their Allies (1888)

Click on an image for more information about the individual species.

Genus Anarhynchus

WRYBILL – Near Threatened

Genus Elseyornis

BLACK-FRONTED DOTTEREL – Least Concern

Genus Oreopholus

TAWNY-THROATED DOTTEREL – Least Concern

Genus Phegornis

DIADEMED SANDPIPER-PLOVER – Near Threatened

Genus Thinornis

HOODED PLOVER – Vulnerable
SHORE PLOVER – Endangered

Genus Hoploxypterus

Lapwings
PIED PLOVER – Least Concern