Little tern
| Little tern | |
|---|---|
| Adult S. a. albifrons in breeding plumage, Lyubikovichi, Ukraine | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Sternula |
| Species: | S. albifrons |
| Binomial name | |
| Sternula albifrons (Pallas, 1764) | |
| Range of S. albifrons (Compiled by: BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World, 2019) Breeding Resident Passage Non-breeding | |
| Synonyms | |
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The little tern (Sternula albifrons) is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name Sterna albifrons. It was moved to the genus Sternula when the genus Sterna was restricted to the larger typical terns. The genus name Sternula is a diminutive of Sterna, 'tern', while the specific name albifrons is from Latin albus, 'white', and frons, 'forehead'.