Larus Canus: Common or Mew Gull

[Harold Smith]

Can anyone clarify something for me? I am currently transferring my records to Mapmate. Overall it is fine though it does throw up a few wobblies now and then when using vernacular names. E.g. We know the Wren as Troglodytes troglodytes but in Mapmate the vernacular name is the Winter Wren.

Though I was a bit confused it appears to be in line with the standard taxa list for Wrens. Then I entered the vernacular 'Common Gull' and it returned Russian Common Gull (Larus canus heinei) which completely threw me. Never heard of it! So being a bit clever I looked up the scientific name for Common Gull which is Larus canus and entered that. Did I get Common Gull. No! It came up with Mew Gull. Never heard of that one either. So I looked it up. Apparently it is the North American name for the Common Gull. So the question is what is an American vernacular name doing on a British Taxa list.

Any ideas or suggestions.

Harold.

[RoyW]

Mew Gull is the name that has been chosen as a standardised English name for Larus canus by organisations that maintain lists of the worlds bird species, and is the name that appears in the Clements and IOC (International Ornithologists Congress) world lists.

In the UK Common Gull remains the accepted name for the species, and references to Mew Gull by birders typically refer to the American subspecies (Larus canus brachyrhynchus - the European race being the nominate Larus canus canus).


At present Mew Gull is not incorrect, it's just the name that we aren't used to using (although if the American race is treated as a separate species then this will change).


Similar reasoning works for Wrens - we only have one species in Europe so Wren has always been OK on it's own. But in a more global context it reduces confusion if each species has a unique name. Many "British" bird names have been adapted by the addition of an additional word (or words) if they are no the only species known by that name - imagine the confusion if we always said we'd seen a Warbler or a Woodpecker and expected everyone (even just in the UK) to know which species we meant.

[Fauna]

I can't answer your question in regards to the Mew Gull, but i have noticed that you have to be carefull with Mapmate when entering vernacular. I now make sure i double/triple check all my records and set the default for what i'm putting in birds, plants, mammals etc.

When i first started with Mapmate i got queried on a few, one that made me laugh was when my local record centre wanted to know why there was Moss flying over the reservoir...i was referring to the bird Redshank, which i should have put in as Common Redshank not Redshank (which is also Persicaria maculosa). Did the same for the tree Horse chestnut which turned out to be a Moth, Horse-chestnut is the tree...the more range of species you record the more Mapmate can get frustrating with vernacular.

Good luck

[david156]

Hi,

according to my book common gull is larus canus and mew gull is larus brachyrhynchus.
The mew gull is the neartic counterpart to common gull and to quote "from which it differs in structure, plumages and mitochondrial DNA." It breeds in the North west of north America and winters along the north american pacific coast.

You can also get three more geographical variations of common gull which are larus canus canus, larus canus heinei and larus canus kamtschatschensis (kamchatka gull).

Cheers David

[Dogghound]

I was under the impression that larus brachyrhynchus was known as the short-billed Gull. I think Mew is just a general name like common for the whole Larus canus group. Mew in USA common in UK.

[Picidae]

'Mew Gull' is a generic name that can be given to any gull within the Common Gull complex. In the UK, we use the term 'mew' gull to distinguish between the nominate Common Gull Larus Canus canus, (uk), from American Common Gulls (Mew Gulls), ssp brachyrhynchus (also known as Short-billed Gull in parts of continental Europe )

'Heinei' is on the British list as the Russian ssp of Larus Canus (because of ringing recovery in Essex).

For identification/separation of the American Common Gull from the nominate, the Azores individual is a good reference:
Surfbirds - Mew Gull Identification

[david156]

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I was under the impression that larus brachyrhynchus was known as the short-billed Gull. I think Mew is just a general name like common for the whole Larus canus group. Mew in USA common in UK.

Short billed gull is the common name for mew gull in america because it has a shorter bill than our common gull.
On the official British list it is classed as the same species. Common is the british name and mew is the international name. Its one of those species that some books class as separate species and some as a subspecies or geographical variation. If a proper american mew gull was in britain and was identified properly it would still only be classed as a common gull. (unless your name was Lee.)

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by david156

according to my book common gull is larus canus and mew gull is larus brachyrhynchus.
The mew gull is the neartic counterpart to common gull and to quote "from which it differs in structure, plumages and mitochondrial DNA."

That'll be the Helm identification guide to gulls then!
This is generally regarded as the current standard identification guide to the gulls of the northern hemisphere, but some of the "splits" that the authors have treated as separate species are not currently accepted by most of the authorities that decide on these things (they may well become widely accepted as separate species in the future though).

Originally Posted by Dogghound

I was under the impression that larus brachyrhynchus was known as the short-billed Gull. I think Mew is just a general name like common for the whole Larus canus group. Mew in USA common in UK.

Short-billed Gull is used in some areas for Larus canus brachyrhynchus, Mew Gull is used in America.
Mew Gull only became the accepted name for the whole of the Larus canus species/group because the American name was chosen for standardised lists. Similarly, Mew Gull is the name generally used for Larus (canus) brachyrhynchus because that is the name that has been used in the guide that most English speaking birders use for gull identification.

Basically is just gets very confusing because we all use different names (and we can't decide what makes a 'good' species).

[david156]

Originally Posted by RoyW

That'll be the Helm identification guide to gulls then!
This is generally regarded as the current standard identification guide to the gulls of the northern hemisphere,

That will be the one Roy. A good bit of bedtime reading

[RoyW]

Originally Posted by david156

Short billed gull is the common name for mew gull in america because it has a shorter bill than our common gull.

The American Ornithologists Union changed from "Short-billed Gull" to "Mew Gull"
with the fifth edition of their checklist (in 1957).