The spotted sandpiper (Actitis macularius) is a small shorebird. Together with its sister species the common sandpiper (A. hypoleucos), it makes up the genus Actitis. They replace each other geographically; stray birds may settle down with breeders of the other species and hybridize.
Taxonomy
The spotted sandpiper was formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1766 in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Tringa macularia. The type locality is Pennsylvania. The species is now placed together with common sandpiper in the genus Actitis and was introduced in 1811 by the German zoologist Johann Illiger. The genus name Actitis is from the Ancient Greek aktites meaning "coast-dweller" from akte meaning "coast". The specific epithet macularius is Latin meaning "spotted". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.
