For the American research vessel and U.S. Navy patrol boat, see USFC Phalarope.
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Phalaropes are close relatives of the shanks and tattlers, the Actitis and Terek sandpipers, and also of the turnstones and calidrids.[1] They are especially notable for their unusual nesting behavior and their unique feeding technique.
Two species, the red or grey phalarope (P. fulicarius) and the red-necked phalarope (P. lobatus) breed around the Arctic Circle and winter on tropical oceans. Wilson's phalarope (P. tricolor) breeds in western North America and migrates to South America. All are 15–25 cm (6–10 in) in length, with lobed toes and a straight, slender bill. Predominantly grey and white in winter, their plumage develops reddish markings in summer.
The genusPhalaropus was introduced by French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius) as the type species.[2][3] The English and genus names come through French phalarope and scientific LatinPhalaropus from Ancient Greekphalaris, "coot", and pous, "foot". Coots and phalaropes both have lobed toes.[4][5]
Afossil species, P. elenorae, is known from the Middle Pliocene 4–3 million years ago (Mya). A coracoid fragment from the Late Oligocene (23 Mya) near Créchy, France, was also ascribed to a primitive phalarope;[7] it might belong to an early species of the present genus or a prehistoric relative. The divergence of phalaropes from their closest relatives can be dated to around that time, as evidenced by the fossil record (chiefly of the shanks) and supported by tentative DNA sequence data.[8][9] Of note, the last remains of the Turgai Sea disappeared around then, and given the distribution of their fossil species, this process probably played a major role in separating the lineages of the shank-phalarope clade.
Red and red-necked phalaropes are unusual amongst shorebirds in that they are considered pelagic, that is, they spend a great deal of their lives outside the breeding season well out to sea. Phalaropes are unusually halophilic (salt-loving) and feed in great numbers in saline lakes such as Mono LakeinCalifornia and the Great Salt LakeofUtah.
When feeding, a phalarope often swims in a small, rapid circle, forming a small whirlpool. This behavior is thought to aid feeding by raising food from the bottom of shallow water. The bird then reaches into the center of the vortex with its bill, plucking small insects or crustaceans caught up therein. Phalaropes use the surface tension of water to capture food particles and get them to move up along their bills and into their mouths.[10]
In the three phalarope species, sexual dimorphism and contributions to parenting are reversed from what is normally seen in birds. Females are larger and more brightly colored than males. The females pursue and fight over males, then defend them from other females until the male begins incubation of the clutch. Males perform all incubation and chick care, while the female attempts to find another male to mate with. If a male loses his eggs to predation, he often rejoins his original mate or a new female, which then lays another clutch. When the season is too late to start new nests, females begin their southward migration, leaving the males to incubate the eggs and care for the young. Phalaropes are uncommon among birds and vertebrates in general in that they engage in polyandry, with one female taking multiple male mates, while males mate with only one female. Specifically, phalaropes engage in serial polyandry, wherein females pair with multiple males at different times in the breeding season.[11]
^van Tuinen, Marcel; Waterhouse, David; Dyke, Gareth J. (2004). "Avian molecular systematics on the rebound: a fresh look at modern shorebird phylogenetic relationships". Journal of Avian Biology. 35 (3): 191–194. doi:10.1111/j.0908-8857.2004.03362.x.
^Brisson, Mathurin Jacques (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés (in French and Latin). Paris: Jean-Baptiste Bauche. Vol. 1, p. 50, Vol. 6, p. 12.
^Hugueney, Marguerite; Berthet, Didier; Bodergat, Anne-Marie; Escuillié, François; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Wattinne, Aurélia (2003).『La limite Oligocène-Miocène en Limagne: changements fauniques chez les mammifères, oiseaux et ostracodes des différents niveaux de Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)』[The Oligocene-Miocene boundary in Limagne: faunal changes in the mammals, birds and ostracods from the different levels of Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)]. Geobios. 36 (6): 719–731. Bibcode:2003Geobi..36..719H. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.01.002.
