NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Australian Fairy Tern
Sternula nereis Gould, 1843
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.
Fairy Tern Sternula nereis, Little Swanport, Tasmania, Australia
JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The fairy tern (Sternula nereis) is a small tern which is native to the southwestern Pacific. It is listed as vulnerable by the IUCN and the New Zealand subspecies is critically endangered. Fairy terns live in colonies along the coastlines and estuaries of Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia, feeding largely on small, epipelagic schooling fishes, breeding in areas close to their feeding sites. They have a monogamous mating system, forming breeding pairs in which they mate, nest, and care for offspring.
There are three subspecies:
Australian fairy tern, Sternula nereis nereis (Gould, 1843) – breeds in Australia
New Caledonian fairy tern, Sternula nereis exsul (Mathews, 1912) – breeds in New Caledonia
New Zealand fairy tern / Tara iti, Sternula nereis davisae (Mathews & Iredale, 1913) – breeds in northern New Zealand
The three subspecies are distinguished by geographical range, and slight morphological differences. Gene flow between subspecies is little to none.
Wikipedia contributors, Fairy tern; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:22:41.969154+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sternula nereis Gould, 1843
- Name authority
- Gould, 1843
- Common name
- Australian Fairy Tern
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Sternula
- 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
- genusSternula F. Boie, 1822
- speciesSternula nereis Gould, 1843
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sternula. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Peruvian TernSternula lorata (Philippi & Landbeck, 1861) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Yellow-billed TernSternula superciliaris (Vieillot, 1819) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Saunders's TernSternula saundersi (Hume, 1877) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little TernSternula albifrons (Pallas, 1764) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Least TernSternula antillarum R. Lesson, 1847 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Damara TernSternula balaenarum Strickland, 1853 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sterna nereis (Gould, 1843) (Gould, 1843) | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=824130 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:52G29. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.