Onychoprion Lunatus Bird

Onychoprion Lunatus Bird

Onychoprion Lunatus Bird

English Name:  Gray-backed Tern
Latin Name:  Onychoprion lunatus
Protonym:  Sterna lunata U.S.Expl.Exped. 8 p.227
Taxonomy:  Charadriiformes / Laridae / Onychoprion
Taxonomy Code:  gybter1
Type Locality:  Vincennes Island, Paumotu Group.
Author:  Peale
Publish Year:  1848
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

ONYCHOPRION
(Laridae; Ϯ Sooty Tern O. fuscatus) Gr. ονυξ onux, ονυχος onukhos  claw, nail; πριων priōn, πριονος prionos  saw; "β. Hirundines aquaticae.  Genus Onychoprion Wagl., Reicherschwalbe.  (Genus novum.)  Wesentliches äußeres Kennzeichen: unguis digiti medii latere interno ut in Ardeis et Caprimulgis serratus.  Hierher: Sterna serrata Forster.  Sieh Wagler, Natürl. Syst. der Amphib. p. 89." (Wagler 1832); "Onychoprion Wagler, Isis, 1832, col. 277—type, by monotypy, Sterna serrata Wagler (ex Forster MS.) = Sterna fuscata Linnaeus." (Hellmayr & Conover 1948, XIII, 302). 
Var. Onynochoprion
Synon. Dipsaleon, Haliplana, Melanosterna, Planetis, Thalassipora.

lunatus
L. lunatus  crescent-shaped, sickle-shaped, lunate  < luna  moon.
● ex “Fuscalbin” of Audebert & Vieillot 1802 (Melithreptus).