NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Great Black-backed Gull
Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758
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.
Great Black-backed Gull
Andreas Trepte · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The great black-backed gull (Larus marinus) is the largest member of the gull and tern family Laridae. It is a very aggressive hunter, pirate and scavenger which breeds on the North Atlantic coasts and islands of northern Europe and northeastern North America. Southern populations are generally sedentary, while those breeding in the far north (northern Norway, northwest Russia) migrate farther south in winter. A few also move inland to large lakes and reservoirs. The adult has a white head, neck and underparts, dark blackish-grey wings and back, pink legs and the bill yellow with a red spot.
Wikipedia contributors, Great black-backed gull; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:17:35.347964+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Larus marinus Linnaeus, 1758
- Name authority
- Linnaeus, 1758
- Common name
- Great Black-backed 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 marinus Linnaeus, 1758
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 |
| California GullLarus californicus Lawrence, 1854 | 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 |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China)
North America
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=176815 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:3SBQM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.