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 (Bonaparte 1842)
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, Greater Sandplover, Caspian, Oriental, Eurasian Dotterel.
- Australasia: Northern Red-breasted, Southern Red-breasted, Little Ringed, Red-capped, Double-banded, Lesser 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 (‘C. Hiaticula’ 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 (J. E. & G. R. Gray 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 (Orde 1814)
∗ C. w. wilsonia (Orde 1814)
∗ C. w. beldingi (Ridgway 1919)
∗ C. w. cinnamominus (Ridgway 1919)
∗ C. w. crassirostris (Ridgway 1919)
- 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 (Orde 1824)
∗ C. m. melodus (Orde1824)
∗ C. m. circumcinctus (Ridgway 1874)
- Madagascan Plover C. thoracicus (‘Ægialitis thoracica’ Richmond)
- Kittlitz’s Plover C. pecuarius (Temminck 1823)
- St Helena Plover C. sanctaehellenae (‘Ægialitis sanctæhelenæ’ Harting 1873)
- Three-banded Plover C. tricollaris (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. t. tricollaris (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. t. bifrontalis (Cabanis 1882)
- Forbes’s Plover C. forbesi (‘Ægialitis forbes’ Shelley 1883)
- White-fronted Plover C. marginatus (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. m. marginatus (Vieillot 1818)
∗ C. m. mechowi (Cabannis 1884)
∗ C. m. arenaceus (Clancy 1971)
∗ C. m. tenellus (Hartlaub 1861)
- Kentish Plover C. alexandrinus (Linnaeus 1758)
∗ 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 (‘Ægialitis dealbatus’ Swinhoe 1870)
- Red-capped Plover C. ruficapillus (Temminck 1822)
- Malaysian Plover C. peronii (Schlegel 1865)
- Chestnut-banded Plover C. pallidus (Strickland 18152)
∗ C. p. pallidus (Strickland 18152)
∗ C. p. venustus (Fischer & Reichenow 1884)
- Collared Plover C. collaris (Vieillot 1818)
- Puna Plover C. alticola (‘Ægialitis alticola’ Berlepsch & 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)
- Lesser Sandplover C. mongolus (Pallas 1776)
∗ C. m. mongolus (Pallas 1776)
∗ C. m. pamirensis (Richmond 1896)
∗ C. m. atrifrons (Wagler 1829)
∗ C. m. schaeferi (Meyer de Schauensee 1938)
∗ C. m. stegmanni (Portenko 1939)
- Greater Sandplover C. leschenaultii (‘C. Leschenaultii’ Lesson 1826)
∗ C. l. leschenaultii (Lesson 1826)
∗ C. l. columbinus (Wagler 1829)
∗ C. l. scythicus (Carlos, Roselaar & Voisin, 2012)
- Caspian Plover C. asiaticus (Pallas 1773)
- Oriental Plover C. veredus (Gould 1848)
- Eurasian Dotterel C. morinellus (C. Morinellus Linnaues 1758)
- Rufous-chested Plover C. modestus (Lichtenstein 1823)
- Mountain Plover C. montanus (J. K. Townsend 1837)
- Inland Dotterel C. australis (‘Eudromias Australis’ Gould 1841)
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).
- 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.