Vega gull
| Vega gull | |
|---|---|
| Vega gull in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, northeastern Siberia | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Larus |
| Species: | L. vegae |
| Binomial name | |
| Larus vegae Palmén, 1887 | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Larus argentatus vegae | |
The Vega gull, East Siberian gull, or East Siberian herring gull (Larus vegae) is a large gull of the herring gull/lesser black-backed gull complex which breeds in Northeast Asia. Its classification is still controversial and uncertain. It is variously treated as a separate species, as a subspecies of the American herring gull (L. smithsonianus) or included with both the American herring gull and European herring gull in L. argentatus. The Mongolian gull Larus mongolicus was formerly regarded as a subspecies of Vega gull. It was described in 1887 from specimens collected on the 1878–1880 Vega Expedition on the Swedish ship SS Vega.