Limosa

Belongs within: Scolopacidae.

Limosa, the godwits, is a genus of long-legged shore birds with long, slightly upcurved bills. The bill has a flexible tip and is used to probe for invertebrates on tidal flats. Summer plumage is more or less suffused with reddish coloration, particularly on the face, neck and breast.

<==Limosa Brisson 1760 [incl. Vetola Mathews 1913; Limosini]CC10
    |  i. s.: L. rufaC01
    |--L. lapponica (Linnaeus 1758)JT12, CC10 [=Scolopax lapponicaCC10, *Vetola lapponicaCC10]
    |    |--L. l. lapponicaCC10
    |    `--L. l. baueri Naumann 1836 (see below for synonymy)CC10
    `--+--*L. limosa (Linnaeus 1758)CC10, JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
       |    |--L. l. limosaCC10
       |    |--L. l. islandica Brehm 1831CC10
       |    `--L. l. melanuroides Gould 1846CC10 [=L. melanura melanuroidesS05]
       `--+--L. fedoaJT12
          `--L. haemastica (Linnaeus 1758)JT12, CC10 [=Scolopax haemasticaCC10, Vetola haemasticaCC10]

Limosa lapponica baueri Naumann 1836 [incl. L. brevipes Sharpe 1896, L. foxii Peale 1848, L. lapponica var. novaezealandiae Gray 1845, Gallinago punctata Ellman 1861]^CC10

*Limosa limosa (Linnaeus 1758)^{CC10, JT12, CC10} [=Scolopax limosa^CC10; incl. L. aegocephala Reinhard 1861^S05, S. jardreka Fabricius 1780^S05, L. melanura Holböll 1846^S05]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[C01] Csiki, E. 1901. Utivázlat [Reiseskizze]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. xii–xli. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[S05] Schalow, H. 1905. Die Vögel der Arktis. In: Römer, F., & F. Schaudinn (eds) Fauna Arctica. Eine Zusammenstellun der arktischen Tierformen, mit besonder Berücksichtigung des Spitzbergen-Gebietes auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Deutschen Expedition in das Nördliche Eismeer im Jahre 1898 vol. 4 pp. 79–288. Gustav Fischer: Jena.