The
little ringed plover (
Thinornis dubius) is a small plover native to the Old World. It has mostly brown upperparts, a black neckband and a black mask around the eye with a noticeable yellow eyering. Its forehead, belly and the rest of the breast are white. A migratory species, it breeds in open gravel areas near freshwater, including gravel pits, islands and river edges. Its diet consists mainly of insects and worms, which it forages for in muddy areas.
Taxonomy: The little ringed plover was formally described in 1786 as
Chadrius dubius by the Austrian naturalist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. The specific
dubius is Latin meaning "doubtful", "uncertain" or "dubious" since French naturalist Pierre Sonnerat in 1876 had thought this bird might be just a variant of the common ringed plover. The little ringed plover is now one of seven plovers placed in the genus
Thinornis that was introduced in 1789 by Johann Friedrich Gmelin. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek
this meaning "beach" or "sand" with
ornis meaning "bird".
Three subspecies are recognized:
- T. d. curonicus (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – breeds Palearctic from Scandinavia southward to northern Africa, eastward across Russia to Sea of Okhotsk and Ussuriland, southward through Middle East and eastward to Japan and Taiwan; winters to Africa and southern Asia
- T. d. jerdoni (Legge, WV, 1880) – India to southeastern Asia
- T. d. dubius (Scopoli, GA, 1786) – Philippines to New Guinea and Bismarck Archipelago
An adult little ringed plovers has a grey-brown back and wings, a white belly and a white breast with one black neckband. It has a brown cap, a white forehead, a black mask around the eyes with white above and a short dark bill. The legs are flesh-coloured and the toes are all webbed.
This species differs from the larger common ringed plover (
Charadrius hiaticula) in the head pattern, leg colour, and the presence of a clear yellow eye-ring.