Actitis Explained

Actitis is a small genus of waders, comprising just two very similar bird species.

Taxonomy

The genus Actitis was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Illiger.^[1] The genus name is from Ancient Greek aktites, "coast-dweller" from akte, "coast".^[2] The type species is the common sandpiper.^[3] The genus is sister to the genus Tringa that contains the shanks and the tattlers.^[4]

The genus contains two species:^[5]

• Common sandpiper, Actitis hypoleucos, of Eurasia
• Spotted sandpiper, Actitis macularius of North America

Description

These are both small migratory waders, greyish brown on top and white underneath, with a distinctive stiff-winged flight low over the water. The plumages are very similar, apart from spotted sandpipers' distinctive breeding plumage, and suspected out-of-range vagrants must be carefully observed for identification to species.

Both species have short yellow or yellowish legs and a medium bill. These are not gregarious birds and are seldom seen in large flocks.

They nest on the ground, and their habitat is near fresh water. These birds forage on the ground or in water, picking up food by sight. They may also catch insects in flight. They eat insects, crustaceans and other invertebrates.

Actitis is part of the shank-tattler-phalarope clade and less closely related to the calidrid sandpipers.^[6] Based on the degree of DNA sequence divergence and putative shank and phalarope fossils from around the Oligocene/Miocene boundary some 23–22 million years ago, presumably Actitis diverged from its closest relatives in the Late Oligocene; given the much higher diversity of the prehistoric members of the group in Eurasia it is likely that they originated there, possibly being isolated as the remains of the Turgai Sea dried up, which happened just around this time.^[7]

The Late Pliocene fossil described as Actitis balcanica ^[8] appears to be actually from some indeterminate charadriid.^[9]

References

• Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague.
• Paton . Tara A. . Baker . Allan J. . Groth . J. G. . Barrowclough . G. F. . 2003 . RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds . . 29 . 2. 268–278 . 10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8 . 13678682. 2003MolPE..29..268P .
• Thomas . Gavin H. . Wills . Matthew A. . Székely . Tamás . 2004 . A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny . . 4 . 28 . 10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 . 15329156 . 515296 . free . Supplementary Material

Notes and References

1. Book: Illiger, Johann Karl Wilhelm . Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger . 1811 . Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium . Latin . Berolini [Berlin] . Sumptibus C. Salfeld . 262 .
2. Book: Jobling, James A . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 31.
3. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1934 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 2 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 269 .
4. Gibson . Rosemary . Baker . Allan . 2012 . Multiple gene sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships in the shorebird suborder Scolopaci (Aves: Charadriiformes) . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 64 . 1 . 66–72 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2012.03.008. 22491071 . 2012MolPE..64...66G .
5. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2021 . Sandpipers, snipes, coursers . IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 22 November 2021 .
6. Paton et al. (2003), Thomas et al. (2004)
7. Mlíkovský (2002), Paton et al. (2003)
8. Boev, Z. 1998. Actitis balcanica sp. n. - a Late Pliocene Sandpiper (Aves: Scolopacidae) from Bulgaria. - Historia naturalis bulgarica, 9: 71–77.
9. Mlíkovský (2002)