NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
California Gull
Larus californicus Lawrence, 1854
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
An adult California gull in breeding plumage near Mono Lake, California
Polinova · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The California gull (Larus californicus) is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the herring gull, but larger on average than the ring-billed gull (though it may overlap in size with both). Although named after California, it can be found annually across most of western North America, from the Canadian prairie provinces in the northeast and south through western Mexico.
Wikipedia contributors, California gull; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:42:12.293781+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Larus californicus Lawrence, 1854
- Name authority
- Lawrence, 1854
- Common name
- California Gull
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Larus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderCharadriiformes
- familyLaridae
- genusLarus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesLarus californicus Lawrence, 1854
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Larus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Olrog's GullLarus atlanticus Olrog, 1958 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common GullLarus canus Linnaeus, 1758 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus Linnaeus, 1758 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Glaucous-winged GullLarus glaucescens J. F. Naumann, 1840 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Iceland GullLarus glaucoides B. Meyer, 1822 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Western GullLarus occidentalis Audubon, 1839 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Slaty-backed GullLarus schistisagus Stejneger, 1884 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| American Herring GullLarus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Vega GullLarus vegae Palmén, 1887 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Heermann's GullLarus heermanni Cassin, 1852 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Short-billed GullLarus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| European Herring GullLarus argentatus Pontoppidan, 1763 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
North America
Oceania
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=176829 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3SBPY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.