Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 191, 223, 230 & 235-236. Order CHARADRIIFORMES: Waders, Gulls and Terns The family sequence of Christidis & Boles (1994), who adopted that of Sibley et al. (1988) and Sibley & Monroe (1990), is followed here. Suborder LARI: Skuas, Gulls, Terns and Skimmers Condon (1975) and Checklist Committee (1990) recognised three subfamilies within the Laridae (Larinae, Sterninae and Megalopterinae) but this division has not been widely adopted. We follow Gochfeld & Burger (1996) in recognising gulls in one family (Laridae) and terns and noddies in another (Sternidae). The sequence of species for Stercorariidae and Laridae follows Peters (1934) and for Sternidae follows Bridge et al. (2005). Family STERNIDAE Bonaparte: Terns and Noddies Sterninae Bonaparte, 1838: Geogr. Comp. List. Birds: 61 – Type genus Sterna Linnaeus, 1758. Most recommendations from a new study of tern and noddy relationships, based on mtDNA (Bridge et al. 2005), have already been adopted by the Taxonomic Subcommittee of the British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (Sangster et al. 2005) and the American Ornithologists’ Union Committee on Classification and Nomenclature (Banks, R.C. et al. 2006). This follows many years of disagreement about the generic classification of terns for which 3–12 genera have recently been used (see Bridge et al. 2005). The genera and their sequence recommended by Bridge et al. (2005) are accepted here, with the exception that we place the crested tern in Sterna rather than Thalasseus, because the evidence for the latter association is weaker (Sangster et al. 2005). Genus Sternula Boie Sternula Boie, 1822: Isis von Oken, Heft 5: col. 563 – Type species (by monotypy) Sterna minuta Linnaeus = Sternula albifrons (Pallas). Sternula albifrons (Pallas) Little Tern Sterna albifrons Pallas, 1764: in Vroeg, Cat. Raisonné Coll. Oiseaux, Adumbr.: 6 – Maasland, Netherlands. Widespread world-wide, with three subspecies: S. a. albifrons breeds Europe and North Africa and east to central Asia; S. a. sinensis breeds east Asia to Australia; S. a. guineae Bannerman, 1913 breeds central and West Africa (Higgins & Davies 1996). Sternula albifrons sinensis (Gmelin) Eastern Little Tern Sterna sinensis Gmelin, 1789: Syst. Nat., 13th edition 1(2): 608 – China. Sterna minuta; Finsch 1867, Journ. für Ornith. 15: 339, 347. Not Sterna minuta Linnaeus, 1766. Sternula placens Gould, 1871: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., London 8 (4th ser.): 192 – Torres Straits. Sternula inconspicua Masters, 1875: Proc. Linn. Soc. New South Wales 1: 63 – Cape York, Australia. Sterna sinensis placens (Gould); Mathews 1912, Novit. Zool. 18(3): 208. Sterna sinensis tormenti Mathews, 1912: Novit. Zool. 18(3): 209 – Point Torment, north-west Australia. Sternula albifrons sinensis (Gmelin); Mathews 1927, Syst. Avium Australasianarum 1: 140. Sterna albifrons sinensis Gmelin; Checklist Committee 1970, Annot. Checklist Birds N.Z.: 55. Breeds in east Asia, east from Sri Lanka to New Guinea and north and east Australia south to Tasmania (Higgins & Davies 1996). Not recognised in New Zealand until the 1940s (McKenzie & Sibson 1957). Now known as regular non-breeding summer visitor, occasionally in flocks of 60+, especially at the big shallow inlets of northern New Zealand; also casually visits estuarine habitats south to Stewart Island / Rakiura (Pierce 1992, Higgins & Davies 1996). Vagrants have reached Kermadec (Veitch et al. 2004), Chatham (Bell & Bell 2002) and possibly Norfolk Islands (Hermes et al. 1986, Higgins & Davies 1996). Banding records have confirmed that some New Zealand migrants breed in Japan (Lawrie & Habraken 2001, Habraken 2002, Anon. 2003). Some juveniles, and the occasional birds that adopt breeding plumage in New Zealand during the southern summer, are considered to have Southern Hemisphere origins (Lawrie & Habraken 2001, Saville 2002, Pulham 2003). Immatures (Sibson & Edgar 1962), and occasionally birds in breeding plumage (e.g. McKenzie & Sibson 1957, Tennyson 1990a), may overwinter. .