Typical Terns
Sterna
Sterna is a genus of terns in the bird family Laridae. Sterna is derived from Old English "stearn" which appears in the poem The Seafarer; a similar word was used to refer to terns by the Frisians. It used to encompass most "white" terns indiscriminately, but mtDNA sequence comparisons have recently determined that this arrangement is paraphyletic. It is now restricted to the typical medium-sized white terns occurring near-globally in coastal regions.
16 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 13 known species
Common Tern
speciesSterna hirundo
Forster's Tern
speciesSterna forsteri
Arctic Tern
speciesSterna paradisaea
White-fronted Tern
speciesSterna striata
South American Tern
speciesSterna hirundinacea
Roseate Tern
speciesSterna dougallii
Black-naped Tern
speciesSterna sumatrana
River Tern
speciesSterna aurantia
Snowy-crowned Tern
speciesSterna trudeaui
Antarctic Tern
speciesSterna vittata
White-cheeked Tern
speciesSterna repressa
Black-bellied Tern
speciesSterna acuticauda
Kerguelen Tern
speciesSterna virgata
Sterna dougallii × hirundo
hybridSterna dougallii × hirundo
Sterna hirundo × paradisaea
hybridSterna hirundo × paradisaea
Sterna forsteri × paradisaea
hybridSterna forsteri × paradisaea
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Sterna in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 4424.