NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Black-headed Gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766)
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.
Black-headed gull at but not in the Antwerp Zoo, Belgium.
Hans Hillewaert · 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 black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but many also remain in the milder areas of northwestern Europe. It was formerly sometimes cited as "common black-headed gull" to distinguish it from "great black-headed gull" (an old name for Pallas's gull).
The genus name Chroicocephalus is from the Ancient Greek words khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head". The specific name ridibundus is Latin for "laughing".
Wikipedia contributors, Black-headed gull; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:12:17.495681+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Chroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1766)
- Common name
- Black-headed Gull
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Chroicocephalus
- 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
- genusChroicocephalus Eyton, 1836
- speciesChroicocephalus ridibundus (Linnaeus, 1766)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Chroicocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Brown-headed GullChroicocephalus brunnicephalus (Jerdon, 1840) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray-hooded GullChroicocephalus cirrocephalus (Vieillot, 1818) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Andean GullChroicocephalus serranus (Tschudi, 1844) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Brown-hooded GullChroicocephalus maculipennis (M. H. K. Lichtenstein, 1823) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia (Ord, 1815) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hartlaub's GullChroicocephalus hartlaubii (Bruch, 1855) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black-billed GullChroicocephalus bulleri (F. W. Hutton, 1871) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Saunders's GullChroicocephalus saundersi Swinhoe, 1871 | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Slender-billed GullChroicocephalus genei (Brème, 1839) | LaridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Silver GullChroicocephalus novaehollandiae (Stephens, 1826) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Larus ridibundus Linnaeus, 1766 Linnaeus, 1766 | synonym |
| Larus ridibundus ridibundus Linnaeus, 1766 Linnaeus, 1766 | synonym |
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
Southern Asia
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=824041 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:5YGFK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.