Charadrius

Charadrius is a genus of plovers, a group of wading birds. The genus name Charadrius is a Late Latin word for a yellowish bird mentioned in the fourth-century Vulgate. The name derives from Ancient Greek kharadrios, a bird found in river valleys (from kharadra, "ravine"). Some believed that seeing it cured jaundice.[1]

Charadrius
Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Charadriidae
Subfamily:	Charadriinae
Genus:	Charadrius Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Charadrius hiaticula Linnaeus, 1758
Species
See text
Synonyms
Aegialites / Aegialitis

They are found throughout the world.

Many Charadrius species are characterised by breast bands or collars. These can be (in the adult) complete bands (ringed, semipalmated, little ringed, long-billed), double or triple bands (killdeer, three-banded, Forbes', two-banded, double-banded) or partial collars (Kentish, piping, snowy, Malaysian, Javan, red-capped, puna).

They have relatively short bills and feed mainly on insects, worms or other invertebrates, depending on habitat, which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups. They hunt by sight, rather than by feel as do longer-billed waders like snipe.

Species of the genus Aegialites (or Aegialitis) are now subsumed within Charadrius.