The family Charadriidae is very large with seventy species listed and is split into subfamilies.
The subfamily Charadriinae contains forty-four species of the genera Pluvialis (4), Charadrius (34), Elseyornis (1), Thinornis (2), Anarhynchus (1), Phegornis (1), and Oreopholus (1). We have further divided this group into three sections.
Section 2, the Ringed Plovers of the genus Charadrius appears on this page.
Family: CHARADRIIDAE (Leach 1820)
Subfamily: CHARADRIINAE (Leach 1820)
Genera: There are thirty-four species of plover within the Charadrius genus.
Charadrius – Late Latin; charadrius yellowish bird mentioned in the Vulgate Bible (late 4th century) (Greek; kharadrios unknown plain-coloured nocturnal birds that dwelt in ravines and river valleys (kharadra ravine) (Linnaeus 1758)
- Europe: Common Ringed, Little Ringed, Kentish, Caspian, Eurasian Dotterel.
- Africa: Common Ringed, Little Ringed, Kittlitz’s, Madagascar, St Helena, Three-banded, Forbe’s, White-fronted, Kentish, Lesser Sandplover, Greater Sandplover, Caspian, Eurasian Dotterel.
- Asia: Common Ringed, Long-billed, Little Ringed, Kentish, White-faced, Javan, Malaysian, Lesser Sandplover, Mongolian Sandplover, Greater Sandplover, Caspian, Oriental, Eurasian Dotterel.
- Australasia: Northern Red-breasted, Southern Red-breasted, Little Ringed, Red-capped, Double-banded, Mongolian Sandplover, Greater Sandplover, Oriental, Inland Dotterel.
- North America: Common Ringed, Semipalmated, Wilson’s, Killdeer, Piping, Snowy, Mountain.
- Central and South America: Semipalmated, Wilson’s, Killdeer, Piping, Snowy, Collared, Puna, Two-banded, Rufous-chested, Mountain.
- Northern Red-breasted Plover Charadrius aquilonius (Gmelin 1789)
- Southern Red-breasted Plover C. obscurus (Dowding 1994)
- Common Ringed Plover C. hiticula (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ C. h. hiaticula (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ C. h. tundrae (Lowe 1915)
∗ C. h. psammodromus (Salomonsen 1930)
- Semipalmated Plover C. semipalmatus (Bonaparte 1825)
- Long-billed Plover C. placidus (Gray, J. & Gray, G. 1863)
- Little Ringed Plover C. dubius (Scopoli 1786)
∗ C. d. dubius (Scopoli 1786)
∗ C. d. curonicus (Gmelin 1789)
∗ C. d. jerdoni (Legge 1880)
- Wilson’s Plover C. wilsonia (Ord 1814)
∗ C. w. wilsonia (Ord 1814)
∗ C. w. beldingi (Ridgway 1919)
∗ C. w. cinnamominus (Ridgway 1919)
∗ C. w. crassirostris (Spix 1825)
- Killdeer C. vociferus (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ C. v. vociferus (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ C. v. ternominatus (Bangs & Kennard 1920)
∗ C. v. peruvianus (Chapman 1920)
- Piping Plover C. melodus (Ord 1824)
∗ C. m. melodus (Ord 1824)
∗ C. m. circumcinctus (Ridgway 1874)
- Madagascan Plover C. thoracicus (Richmond1896)
- Kittlitz’s Plover C. pecuarius (Temminck 1823)
- St Helena Plover C. sanctaehellenae (Harting 1873)
- Three-banded Plover C. tricollaris (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. t. tricollaris (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. t. bifrontalis (Cabanis 1882)
∗ C. m. marginatus (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. m. mechowi (Cabanis 1884)
∗ C. m. arenaceus (Clancey 1971)
∗ C. m. tenellus (Hartlaub 1861)
∗ C. alexandrinus (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ C. a. seebohmi (Strickland 18152)
∗ C. a. nihonensis (Fischer & Reichenow 1884)
- Snowy Plover C. nivosus (Cassin 1858)
∗ C. n. nivosus (Cabanis 1872)
∗ C. n. occidentalis (Cabanis 1872)
- Javan Plover C. javanicus (Chasen 1938)
- White-faced Plover C. dealbatus (Swinhoe 1870)
- Red-capped Plover C. ruficapillus (Temminck 1822)
- Malaysian Plover C. peronii (Schlegel 1865)
- Chestnut-banded Plover C. pallidus (Strickland 1852)
∗ C. p. pallidus (Strickland 1852)
∗ C. p. venustus (Fischer & Reichenow 1884)
- Collared Plover C. collaris (Vieillot 1818)
- Puna Plover C. alticola (Berlepsh & Stolzmann 1902)
- Two-banded Plover C. falklandicus (Latham 1790)
- Double-banded Plover C. bicinctus (Jardine & Selby 1827)
∗ C. b. bicinctus (Jardine & Selby 1827)
∗ C. b. exilis (Falla 1978)
∗ C. m. mongolus (Pallas 1776)
∗ C. m. stegmanni (Portenko 1939)
∗ C. m. pamirensis (Richmond 1896)
∗ C. m. atrifrons (Wagler 1829)
∗ C. m. schaeferi (Meyer de Schauensee 1938)
∗ C. l. leschenaultii (Lesson 1826)
∗ C. l. columbinus (Wagler 1829)
∗ C. l. scythicus (Carlos, Roselaar & Voisin, 2012)
Ægialitis or Aegialitis (Boie 1822) is an old synonym for Charadrius but is no longer recognised in favour of the latter.
Wilson’s Plover subspecies C. w. crassirostris (Carlos and Voisin 2011) was formerly called C. w. brasiliensis (Grantsau 2008). According with the International code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999) this change meant that Greater Sandplover subspecies C. l. crassirostris (Severtzov 1873) had to be remnamed C. l. scythicus (Carlos, Roselaar & Voisin 2012).
Mongolian and Lesser Sandplover were considered subspecies of Lesser Sandplover Charadrius mongolus. In 2022 a study showed that they were sufficiently different to warrant specific status creating Mongolian Sandplover C. mongolus/stegmanniand and Lesser Sandplover C. atrifrons/schaeferi/pamirensis.
- Avibase https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org
- BirdLife International: IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 26/03/2020
- Carlos, C. J. & J-F. Voisin (2012). Charadrius wilsonia brasiliensis Grantsau & Lima, 2008, is a junior synonym of Charadrius crassirostris Spix, 1825: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 131 (1): 165–170.
- Carlos, C. J., S. Roselaar & J-F. Voisin (2012). A replacement name for Charadrius leschenaultii crassirostris (Severtzov, 1873), a subspecies of Greater Sand Plover: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 132 (1): 63–65.
- del Hoyo, Josep, Andrew Elliot & Jordi Sargatal: Handbook of the Birds of the World – Vol. 3 (1996)
- Grantsau, R. & P. C. Lima (2008). Uma nova subespécie de Charadrius wilsonia (Aves, Charadriiformes) para o Brasil: Atualidades Ornitológicas. 142: 4–5.
- Hayman, Peter, John Marchant & Tony Prater: Shorebirds – An identification guide to the waders of the world (1986)
- HBW Alive https://www.hbw.com
- Jobling, James A.: Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names (2010)
- Kennerley, P. R., D. N.Bakewell , P. D. Round: Rediscovery of a long-lost Charadrius plover from South-East Asia. Forktail 24, 63–79 (2008)
- 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.