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Taxonomy <br />Originally described as a race of Charadrius hiaticula <br />(Wilson and Bonaparte, no date), the taxonomy of Piping Plovers <br />has undergone a number of revisions. Ord (1824) was the first to <br />consider the Piping Plover a separate species, but it was not <br />until the fourth edition of the American Ornithologists' Union <br />(AOU) Checklist that the original binomial, Aegialitis meloda, <br />was changed to Charadrius melodus (AOU 1931). In addition to <br />changes in the binomial, ornithologists have argued for over 100 <br />years about designation of two subspecies: C. m. melodus <br />(Atlantic birds) and C. m. circumcinctus (inland birds). Moser <br />(1942) argued that the extent and brightness of breast bands <br />differed between inland and coastal birds. This facilitated <br />acceptance of the two subspecific designations (AOU 1945). <br />Wilcox (1959) reported a variety of breast band forms on birds <br />from Long Island, NY. Subsequent morphological measurements of <br />Atlantic and inland birds did not indicate a significant <br />difference between birds from different regions (Wilcox 1959). <br />Recently, electrophoretic analyses did not indicate a genetic <br />difference among local or regional populations in Saskatchewan, <br />Manitoba, North Dakota, Minnesota, and New Brunswick (Haig and <br />Oring 1988b). Nevertheless, the subspecies designation is <br />currently maintained by the AOU (1957), but is under review for <br />the next edition (R. Banks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). <br />3 <br />