Belongs within: Scolopacidae.
Numenius contains the curlews and whimbrels, relatively large shorebirds with long, strongly downcurved bills. The whimbrel Numenius phaeopus, bristle-thighed curlew N. tahitiensis and slender-billed curlew N. tenuirostris are smaller species with the bill straighter at the base and a sharper down-curve towards the end. The eskimo curlew N. borealis is another smaller species that is considered critically endangered and may be extinct. The Eurasian curlew N. arquata, far easter curlew N. madagascariensis and long-billed curlew N. americanus are particularly large species with the entire bill more evenly curved; the last two species have the longest bills of any shore bird.
Characters (Ridgway 1887): Bill decidedly arched or decurved; wings at least 200 mm long; back of tarsus covered with small hexagonal scales.
<==Numenius Brisson 1760 [=Cracticornis Gray 1841; incl. Mesoscolopax Sharpe 1896, Phaeopus Cuvier 1816]CC10
| i. s.: N. antiquus Milne-Edwards 1868M02
| N. borealis (Forster 1772) [=Scolopax borealis]S05
| N. longirostraJ23
| N. tenuirostris Vieillot 1817I92
|--+--N. tahitiensis (Gmelin 1789)BKB15, CC10 [=Scolopax tahitiensisCC10, Phaeopus tahitiensisCC10]
| `--+--N. hudsonicus Latham 1790BKB15, CC10 [=Limosa hudsonicaCC10, N. phaeopus hudsonicusCC10]
| `--N. phaeopus (Linnaeus 1758)BKB15, CC10 [=Scolopax phaeopusCC10, *Phaeopus phaeopusCC10; incl. N. minorF17]
| |--N. p. phaeopusCC10
| `--N. p. variegatus (Scopoli 1786)CC10 (see below for synonymy)
`--+--N. americanusBKB15
`--+--N. madagascariensis (Linnaeus 1766)BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
`--+--*N. arquata (Linnaeus 1758)CC10, BKB15, M02 [=Scolopax arquataCC10, *Cracticornis arquataCC10, Numenius arcuataF17]
| |--N. a. arquataM-PG70
| `--N. a. orientalis Brehm 1831 [incl. N. arquata lineata, N. arquata suschkini]M-PG70
`--N. minutus Gould 1841BKB15, CC10 [=*Mesoscolopax minutusCC10]
Numenius madagascariensis (Linnaeus 1766)BKB15, CC10 [=Scolopax madagascariensisCC10; incl. N. australasianus Gould 1838CC10, N. australis Gould 1838CC10, N. cyanopus Vieillot 1817CC10, N. rostratus Gray 1843CC10, N. rufescens Gould 1863CC10]
Numenius phaeopus variegatus (Scopoli 1786)CC10 [=Tantalus variegatusCC10, Phaeopus phaeopus variegatusCC10; incl. N. atricapillus Vieillot 1817CC10, Scolopax luzoniensis Gmelin 1789CC10, N. uropygialis Gould 1841CC10, Limosa rufa uropygialisCC10, S05]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.
[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.
[F17] Forster, T. 1817. A synoptical catalogue of British birds; intended to identify the species mentioned by different names in several catalogues already extant. Forming a book of reference to observations on British ornithology. Nichols, Son, and Bentley: London.
[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.
[J23] James, E. 1823. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ’20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, sec’y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party vol. 1. H. C. Carey & I. Lea: Philadelphia.
[M-PG70] Mackworth-Praed, C. W., & C. H. B. Grant. 1970. African Handbook of Birds ser. 3 vol. 1. Birds of West Central and Western Africa. Longman: London.
[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.
Ridgway, R. 1887. A Manual of North American Birds. J. B. Lippincott Company: Philadelphia.
[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.