Lesser noddy explained

The lesser noddy (Anous tenuirostris), also known as the sooty noddy, is a seabird in the family Laridae. It is found near the coastlines of Comoros, Kenya, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Seychelles, Somalia, Sri Lanka and United Arab Emirates.

The lesser noddy was at one time considered as a subspecies of the black noddy (Anous minutus).^[1] The close relationship between the two species was confirmed by a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2016.^[2]

Taxonomy

The first formal description of the lesser noddy was by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1823 under the binomial name Sterna tenuirostris.^{[3] [4]} The genus Anous was introduced by the English naturalist James Francis Stephens in 1826.^[5] Anous is Ancient Greek for "stupid" or "foolish". The specific name tenuirostris is from the Latin tenuis for "slender" and -rostris "-billed".^[6]

There are two subspecies:^[7]

• A. t. tenuirostris (Temminck, 1823) - islands of the west & north Indian Ocean
• A. t. melanops Gould, 1846 - Houtman Abrolhos Islands (Western Australia)

Description

The lesser noddy is in length with a wingspan of and a weight of . The plumage is brownish black. The forehead and crown are lighter in colour. This species is smaller and slightly paler than the similar black noddy and has pale rather than dark lores.^[1]

Ecology

Giant tortoises have been observed to hunt the bird on Fregate Island in the Seychelles.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Book: Gochfeld . M. . Burger . J. . Garcia . E.F.J. . Lesser Noddy (Anous tenuirostris) . del Hoyo . J. . Elliott . A. . Sargatal . J. . Christie . D.A. . de Juana . E. . Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive . Lynx Edicions . http://www.hbw.com/node/54051 . 17 April 2017 .
2. Cibois . A. . Thibault . J.-C. . Rocamora . G. . Pasquet . E. . 2016 . Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Blue and Grey Noddies (Procelsterna) . Ibis . 158 . 2 . 433–438 . 10.1111/ibi.12363 .
3. Book: Temminck, Coenraad Jacob . Coenraad Jacob Temminck . 1838 . 1823 . Nouveau recueil de planches coloriées d'oiseaux, pour servier de suite et de complement aux planches enluminées de Buffon . 5 . Plate 202 . Paris . F.G. Levrault .
4. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1934 . Check-list of Birds of the World . 2 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 347 .
5. Book: Stephens . James Francis . James Francis Stephens . 1826. General zoology, or Systematic natural history, by George Shaw . 13, Part 1 . London . G. Kearsley . 139 . The title page gives the year as 1825.
6. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 48, 381 .
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . 2019 . Noddies, gulls, terns, auks . World Bird List Version 9.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 24 June 2019 .
8. Zora. Anna. Gerlach. Justin. 2021-08-23. Giant tortoises hunt and consume birds. Current Biology. English. 31. 16. R989–R990. 10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.088. 34428417 . 0960-9822. free. 2021CBio...31.R989Z .