Larus argentatus, Pontoppidan, 1763.

So here's a second synanthrope for the day:

Juvenile, Brighton, East Sussex, U.K, in July 2012, using Olympus E-420 and Zuiko 70-300mm lens.

This is a member of the most frequently cited example of species ring - essentially, when a more-or-less continuous band of a specific environment exists (as in the near-arctic and arctic coasts of Europe, America and Asia) - a species that becomes adapted to that specific environment will eventually spread through and colonise the whole area but, if the ring is large enough that genetic flow between populations are incomplete, then genetic drift can cause the two ends to be genetically incompatible when they eventually close the ring.

This particular ring closes in the UK, which is probably why it's so frequently cited, with the Lesser black-backed gull, and the silver-backed, or Herring gull,

Larus argentatus

(Pontoppidan, 1763)

Which, when it grows up, should look like these little fellows from Priory Park in Chichester, West Sussex, UK: 

Photographed in Priory Park, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, in January 2012, using Olympus E-420 and 40-150mm Zuiko lens.

 And it belongs to:

- Laridae         

-Lari                 

See also Sterna hirundo.

- Charadriiformes

See also Burhinus vermiculatus.

- Neoaves             

See also Troglodytes troglodytes, Megaceryle maxima, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica, Stigmatopelia senegalensis  and Tockus alboterminatus.

- Neognathae          

- Neornithes              

- Euornithes                

- Aves                           

- Maniraptora                  

- Coelurosauria                  

- Tetanurae                          

- Therapoda                           

- Saurischia                              

- Dinosauria                                

- Avemetatarsalia                           

- Archosauria                                   

- Archosauromorpha                           

- Sauria                                                 

See also  Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Zootoca vivipara and Lygodactylus capensis.

- Diapsida                                                

- Romeriida                                                

- Reptilia                                                       

- Amniota                                                        

- Reptiliomorpha                                                

See also Syncerus caffer and Hipposideros vittatus.

- Tetrapoda                                                          

See also Rana temporaria, Breviceps poweri and Chiromantis xerampelina.

- Sarcopterygii                                                        

- Osteichthyes                                                           

See also Synchiropus splendidus.

- Teleostomi                                                                

- Gnathostomata                                                            

- Vertebrata                                                                     

- Craniata                                                                          

- Chordata                                                                           

- Deuterostomia                                                                     

- Nephrozoa                                                                            

See also Burtoa nilotica, Ligia oceanica, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Hyllus argyrotoxus, Alopecosa barbipes, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi, Pardosa amentata, Enallagma cyathigerum, Pseudagrion hageni, Lestinogomphus angustus, Rhyothemis semihyalina, Humbe tenuicornis, Lobosceliana loboscelis, Cyathosternum prehensile, Heteropternis thoracica, Stictogryllacris punctata, Enyaliopsis, Tettigonia viridissima, Sibylla, Pephricus, Grypocoris stysi, Ranatra, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Anthophora furcata, Andrena nigroaenea, Zebronia phenice, Crambus pascuella, Nemophora degeerella, Sphinx ligustri, Laelia robusta, Acada biseriata, Metisella willemi, Anthocharis cardamines, Papilio demodocus, Panorpa germanica, Chloromyia formosa, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Metadon inermis, Diasemopsis meigenii, Dolichotachina caudata, Megistocera filipes, Hagenomyia tristis, Phyllobius pomaceus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Malachius bipustulatus, Oedemera nobilis, Melolontha melolontha, Cheilomenes lunata, Neojulodis vittipennis, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasiini and Lophyra cf. differens.

- Bilateralia                                                                                

- Eumetazoa                                                                                

- Animalia                                                                                     

- Eukaryota                                                                                     

And that, folks, is all! 

Sterna hirundo, Linnaeus, 1758.

Oh, drama, how you very nearly work as a substitute for a well taken photograph.

And apologies, viewers, but it's the best you're getting today.


Our special guest today belongs to the:

Eukaryota (as to most things you can see, barring stromatoliths and a few other, mostly phototrophic, colonial prokaryotes);
   Animalia (As does everything on this blog, thus far).
     Eumetazoa (I've yet to take a single photograph of a sponge, the most noteworthy animal-but-not-eumetazoan group).
       Bilateralia - not corals, jellyfish or co. Starfish, interestingly, do belong to the Bilateralia, but develop a radial - typically 5-rayed - symmetry upon metamorphosis.
         Nephrozoa - probably a redundant level of classification, which was originally held to seperate some primitive Deuterostomes from the rest of the bilaterally symmetrical world. 
           Deuterostomia - in a departure from the general tendency of this blog, the featured creature is NOT an insect. Or a spider. Or similar.
             Chordata - it's not a sea-urching, starfish or sea-cucumber.
               Craniata - it's not a sea-squirt.
                 Vertebrata - it's not a hagfish.
                   Gnathostomata - it's not a lamprey.
                     Teleostomi - it's not a typical shark, ray or guitarfish.
                       Osteichthyes - it's also not a member of an extinct group of sharks...
                         Sarcopterygii - it's not a ray-finned fish...
                           Tetrapoda - it's not a coelocanth or lungfish.
                             Reptiliomorpha - it's not a frog.
                               Amniota - it's not a member of an extinct lineage of reptile-like animals without watertight eggs...
                                 Reptilia - based on limiting and probably outdated classifications, it's not a mammal.
                                   Romeriida - nor is it a tortoise.
                                     Diapsida - there is a distinction between the Romeriida and the Diapsida, but I'm fairly sure it's extinct.
                                       Sauria - another more-or-less redundant division... the number of these should give some hind to the endpoint.
                                         Archosauromorpha - it's not a lizard, snake or tuatara.
                                           Archosauria - it really isn't a lizard, snake or tuatara.
                                             Avemetatarsalia - it's also not a crocodile or alligator. Or ghavial.
                                               Dinosauria - it's not a member of a couple of currently insignificaant extinct groups...
                                                 Saurischia it's not a Stegosaurus. Or a Triiceratops. Or an Iguanodon.
                                                   Therapoda. It's not a Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus or similar Sauropod...

                                                     Tetanurae - um... If my phylogeny of extinct dinosaur groups holds up, it's not a Ceratosaur, or related group.
                                                       Coelurosauria - it's also not an Allosaurus.
                                                         Maniraptora - it's not a T-rex. Sorry, and all that.
                                                           Aves - it's not a velociraptor.
                                                             Euornithes - it's not, among other things, Archaeopteryx.
                                                               Neornithes - it's not various extinct feathery things...
                                                                 Neognathae - it's not an ostrich or a kiwi.
                                                                   Neoaves - It's not a duck or a chicken.
                                                                     Charadriiformes - it's not a pigeon, a blackbird, a crane...
                                                                       Lari - it's not an oystercatcher.
                                                                         Sternidae - it's not a gull, it's:

 Sterna hirundo

Linnaeus, 1758

 And here it is:

 Remember I said how drama could almost substitute for a well taken photograph? I feel I was being honest. It's has passing interest, but is rather weighed down by the shoddy photography. Taken on Chichester canal, Chichester, West Sussex, UK, in June 2013.

It's the european Common tern, and as an interesting note, it's generic name, Sterna, comes from an old English word for terns, while its specific epithet (hirundo) references the archaic description of terns as "Sea swallows."



That's all, folks.