Distribution and Life History Studies of the South-Polar Skua
1961; Wiley; Volume: 32; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/4510894
ISSN2327-1280
Autores Tópico(s)Avian ecology and behavior
ResumoSkuas are in the Order Charadriiformes, and together with jaegers of the genus Stercorarius constitute the Family Stercorariidae. Taxonomists disagree as to whether the skua comprises a single bipolar species or whether it consists of several species and sub-species. In this study four species are recognized and all are classified in the bipolar genus Catharacta, with one species normally inhabiting the Northern Hemisphere and the other three the Southern. These include Catharacta skua, the great skua of the Northern Hemisphere; C. chilensis (Saunders), the Chilean skua found generally in the temperate regions of South America; C. lonnbergi (Mathews), the brown skua which primarily inhabits the subantarctic areas; and C. maccormicki (Saunders), the south-polar skua which is confined to Antarctica. This latter species, which is the subject for this study, has been commonly called the Antarctic skua as well as McCormick's skua, but south-polar skua is the more common name and this term is followed.
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