| Gallinago | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Common snipe | |
Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Scolopacidae |
| Genus: | Gallinago Brisson, 1760 |
| Type species | |
| Scolopax gallinago[1] Linnaeus, 1758 | |
| Species | |
See text | |
| Synonyms | |
Capella | |
Gallinago is agenus of birds in thewader familyScolopacidae, containing 18 species.
The nameGallinago was introduced by the French zoologistMathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 as a subdivision of thegenusScolopax.[2] Brisson did not useCarl Linnaeus'sbinomial system of nomenclature and although many of Brisson's genera had been adopted by ornithologists, his subdivision of genera were generally ignored.[3] Instead, the erection of the genusGallinago for thesnipes was credited to the German zoologistCarl Ludwig Koch in a book published in 1816.[4] But in 1920 it was discovered that the German naturalist Johann Samuel Traugott Frenzel had erected the genusCapella for the snipes in 1801. As his publication predated Koch's use ofGallinago it took precedence.[5][6] TheAmerican Ornithologists' Union switched toCapella in 1921[7] and in 1934 the American ornithologistJames L. Peters usedCapella for the woodcocks in his influentialCheck-list of Birds of the World.[8] This all changed in 1956 when theInternational Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled thatGallinago Brisson 1760 should have priority for the genus with thecommon snipe as thetype species.[9] The scientific namegallinago isNeo-Latin for awoodcock orsnipe fromLatingallina, "hen" and the suffix-ago, "resembling".[10]
The genus contains 18 species:[11]
This genus contains the majority of the world's snipespecies, the other two extant genera beingCoenocorypha, with three species, andLymnocryptes, the jack snipe. Morphologically, they are all similar, with a very long slender bill and crypticplumage. Most have distinctive displays, usually given at dawn or dusk. They search forinvertebrates in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills.
Fossil bones of some undescribedGallinago species most similar to thegreat snipe have been recovered in LateMiocene or EarlyPliocene deposits (c. 5mya) of Lee Creek Mine, USA. The largeWest Indian speciesGallinago kakuki went extinct during the lateQuaternary period, and despite its distribution may actually be more closely related to Old World snipe species than New World ones.
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