The Eurasian whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), historically known as the white-rumped whimbrel in North America, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across much of subarctic Palearctic region and Europe as far south as Scotland. This species and the Hudsonian whimbrel were split in 2019, although some taxonomic authorities still consider them to be conspecific.
Taxonomy
The Eurasian whimbrel was formally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Scolopax phaeopus. It is now placed with the curlews in the genus Numenius that was introduced by Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760.
The genus name Numenius is from Ancient Greek noumenios, a bird mentioned by Hesychius. It is associated with the curlews because it appears to be derived from neos, "new" and mene, "moon", referring to the crescent-shaped bill. The specific epithet phaeopus is the Medieval Latin name for the bird, from Ancient Greek phaios, "dusky" and pous, "foot". The English name "whimbrel" is imitative of the bird's call.
Five subspecies are recognised:
N. p. phaeopus (Linnaeus, 1758) – nominate, breeds from Norway to north central Siberia; winters in Africa and South and Southeast Asia
N. p. islandicus Brehm, 1831 – breeds mainly in Iceland, but also in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and Scotland; winters mainly in West Africa, but ranges from southwestern Europe to Benin and Togo
N. p. alboaxillaris Lowe, 1921 – breeds from western Kazakhstan to southwestern Siberia and migrates south to spend the non-breeding season in south-east Africa.
N. p. rogachevae Tomkovich, 2008 – breeds in north central Siberia; winters in east Africa and west India
N. p. variegatus (Scopoli, 1786) – breeds in north-eastern Siberia; winters in India to Australia
The Hudsonian whimbrel (N. hudsonicus) was formerly considered to be conspecific. The two species were split based on...
