Glareola

Glareola is a genus of birds in the family Glareolidae. The pratincoles are a group of birds consisting of the eight species.

The genus Glareola was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the collared pratincole (Glareola pratincola) as the type species.^[1][2] The genus name is a diminutive of Latin glarea, "gravel", referring to a typical nesting habitat.^[3]

The genus contains eight species:^[4]

• Madagascar pratincole, Glareola ocularis – breeds rocky coastal and river islets of northwestern and eastern Madagascar; winters coasts and estuaries of eastern Africa from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique
• Rock pratincole, Glareola nuchalis – rocky rivers of tropical Africa
• Australian pratincole, Glareola isabella – breeds northern Australia (Kimberley region, northern Western Australia, eastward to inland eastern Australia and southward to northern Victoria); winters south-eastern Indonesia to southern New Guinea
• Small pratincole, Glareola lactea – eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan to India and Indochina
• Grey pratincole, Glareola cinerea – rivers of Mali to Cameroon, western Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northwestern Angola
• Oriental pratincole, Glareola maldivarum – breeds patchily in grassland near water from western India and Sri Lanka eastward to southeastern Siberia and southward to Philippines; winters grassy fields of islands of northern Indian Ocean and Indian Peninsula eastward through northern Australia and western Micronesia
• Black-winged pratincole, Glareola nordmanni – breeds saline steppe near water from central Ukraine and southwestern Russia eastward to eastern Kazakhstan; winters in grassland near water of eastern Namibia, Botswana, and northern South Africa
• Collared pratincole, Glareola pratincola – breeds in southern temperate to tropical grassland near water, central west Palearctic and Africa; winters in Africa