Glareolinae

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: ParaHoxozoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Olfactores
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Sauropsida
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Cladus: Diapsida
Cladus: Neodiapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Cladus: Archelosauria
Cladus: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crocopoda
Cladus: Archosauriformes
Cladus: Eucrocopoda
Cladus: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Cladus: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Subclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Cladus: Neornithes
Infraclassis: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Charadriiformes
Subordo: Lari
Superfamilia: Glareoloidea

Familia: Glareolidae
Subfamilia: Glareolinae
Genera: Glareola – Stiltia
Name

Glareolinae Brehm, 1831
Vernacular names

The pratincoles or greywaders are a subfamily (Glareolinae) of birds which together with the coursers make up the family Glareolidae. They have short legs, very long pointed wings and long forked tails.
Description

Their most unusual feature for birds classed as waders is that they typically hunt their insect prey on the wing like swallows, although they can also feed on the ground. Their short bills are an adaptation to aerial feeding.

Their flight is fast and graceful like a swallow or a tern, with many twists and turns to pursue their prey. They are most active at dawn and dusk, resting in the warmest part of the day.

Like the coursers, the pratincoles are found in warmer parts of the Old World, from southern Europe and Africa east through Asia to Australia. Species breeding in temperate regions are long-distance migrants.

Their two to four eggs are laid on the ground in a bare scrape.

The downy pratincole chicks are able to run as soon as they are hatched.[1]

The Australian pratincole, the only species not in the genus Glareola, is more terrestrial than the other pratincoles, and may be intermediate between this group and the coursers.

The name "pratincole" comes from the term pratincola coined by German naturalist Wilhelm Heinrich Kramer from the Latin words prātum meadow and incola resident.[2]
Species list

Genus Stiltia
Australian pratincole Stiltia isabella
Genus Glareola
Collared pratincole Glareola pratincola
Oriental pratincole Glareola maldivarum
Black-winged pratincole Glareola nordmanni
Madagascar pratincole Glareola ocularis
Rock pratincole Glareola nuchalis
Grey pratincole Glareola cinerea
Small pratincole Glareola lactea

References

Shorebirds by Hayman, Marchant and Prater ISBN 0-395-60237-8

Newton, Alfred (1911). "Pratincole" . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 254–255.

Lockwood, W B (1993). The Oxford Dictionary of British Bird Names. OUP. ISBN 978-0-19-866196-2.

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