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In flight with wing spurs clearly visible. The masked lapwing is the largest representative of the family Charadriidae.It measures from 30 to 37 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and has a wingspan of 75–85 cm (30–33 in), and has a conspicuous yellow spur on the carpal joint of each wing.
The masked lapwing (also known as the spur-winged plover) has carpal spurs. Nesting pairs defend their territory against all intruders by calling loudly, spreading their wings, and then swooping fast and low, and where necessary, striking at interlopers with their feet and attacking animals on the ground with the conspicuous yellow spurs.
The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing", and "dotterel" do not correspond exactly to current taxonomic models; thus, several of the Vanellinae are often called plovers, and one a dotterel, while a few of the "true" plovers (subfamily Charadriinae) are known colloquially as lapwings. In general, a lapwing can be thought of as a larger plover.
These were rather vague terms which were not applied with any great consistency in the past. In general, larger species have often been called lapwings, smaller species plovers or dotterels and there are in fact two clear taxonomic sub-groups: most lapwings belong to the subfamily Vanellinae, most plovers and dotterels to Charadriinae.
Australia has two native species, the masked lapwing and the banded lapwing. [6] The masked lapwing is split into Vanellus miles miles and Vanellus miles novaehollandiae. [7] The first fossils of the Vanellus species were from Belgian deposits retrieved from the middle Oligocene dating back 30 million years ago, the time when the first grasses ...
Linnaeus based his account on a description by the Swedish naturalist Fredrik Hasselquist that had been published in 1757. [5] The spur-winged lapwing is now one of 23 species placed in the genus Vanellus that was introduced in 1760 by the French naturalist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. [6]
Adult northern masked chafers are 11 to 14 mm long and 6 to 7 mm wide. They are a dull yellow-brown with darker markings on the head and eyes, and their thoraxes and wing covers are hairy. The larvae eat plant roots and other matter near the soil surface. The adults do not feed.
[4] [5] The name was derived by tautonymy from the original binomial name of the northern lapwing Tringa vanellus introduced by Linnaeus in 1758. [5] [6] Vanellus is the Medieval Latin for a "lapwing". It is a diminutive of the Latin vanus meaning "winnowing" or "fan". [7] The systematics of Vanellus have hitherto resisted clear resolution.