Recently proposed splits for the family Gulls and Allies

Mew / Short-billed Gull     Larus brachyrhynchus
Richardson  1831
U.S.A.: Alaska; Canada: Yukon, nw,s Mackenzie s to e British Columbia, n Alberta, c Saskatchewan and ne Manitoba
split from: Larus canus
insert after: Larus canus
Robert M. Zink, Sievert Rohwer, Alexander V. Andreev & Donna L. Dittmann,
Trans-Beringia comparisons of mitochondrial DNA differentiation in birds
The Condor 97 (1995): 639-649
 

I am not very confident about a proper treatment of the larger gulls in these pages, and therefore try to deal with them cautiously.  It seems for decades now that breakthrough papers are in press, yet they never seem to materialize.

The interest in the larger gulls is big amongst amateur ornithologists, and seems to be on the rise even.  Needless to state that there is some pressure from the gullers amongst us for adding more taxa here.
Give me real references!

Yellow-legged Gull     Larus michahellis
Naumann   1840
France; Iberian Peninsula; Mediterranean basin
split from: Larus cachinnans
insert after: Larus cachinnans
R. Klein & A. Buchheim,
Die westlichen Schwarzmeerküste als Kontaktgebiet zweier Grossmöwenformen der Larus cachinnans-Gruppe
Vogelwelt 118 (1997): 61-70
 

Long-billed Murrelet     Brachyramphus perdix
(Pallas)  1811
Japan; through Sea of Okhotsk and Kamchatka Peninsula
split from: Brachyramphus marmoratus
insert after: Brachyramphus marmoratus
V.L. Friesen, J.F. Piatt & A.J. Baker,
Evidence from cytochrome-b sequences and allozymes for a ‘new' species of alcid: The Long-billed Murrelet (Brachyramphus perdix)
The Condor 98 (1996): 681-690
 

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