CreatureData

Black-naped tern

Sterna sumatrana Raffles, 1822

LCLeast Concernbirds

The black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana) is a species in the family Laridae, order Charadriiformes. Recorded adults weigh about 106 g. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana)
Photo: Aviceda · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the black-naped tern

Weight
106 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
22 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
1.54 – 1.58src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Partialsrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the black-naped tern live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The black-naped tern is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the black-naped tern?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana) is an oceanic tern mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean. They are rarely found inland. It was described from the islands around Sumatra. It is most closely related to roseate tern S. dougallii and white-fronted tern S. striata.

From the Wikipedia article “Black-naped tern” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-naped_tern&oldid=1374886159), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the black-naped tern endangered?

The black-naped tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the black-naped tern classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderCharadriiformes
  5. familyLaridae
  6. genusSterna
  7. SpeciesSterna sumatrana Raffles, 1822

Synonyms Sterna melanauchen

Other names and names in other languages (48)
  • Blac-naped ternEnglish
  • BNTEEnglish
  • خرشنة سومطريةArabic
  • Суматранска рибаркаBulgarian
  • xatrac de SumatraCatalan
  • rybák bělotemennýCzech
  • môr-wennol wardduWelsh
  • Indonesisk TerneDanish
  • SchwarznackenseeschwalbeGerman
  • Schwarznacken-SeeschwalbeGerman
  • ކިރު ދޫނިDivehi
  • Sumatra ŝternoEsperanto
  • nigranuka ŝternoEsperanto
  • Charrán de SumatraSpanish
  • mustkukal-tiirEstonian
  • mustaniskatiiraFinnish
  • Sterne diamantFrench
  • Geabhróg bhaicdhubhIrish
  • שחפית שחורת-עורףHebrew
  • svijetla čigraCroatian
  • feketefejű csérHungarian
  • Dara-laut tengkuk-hitamIndonesian
  • Sterna nucaneraItalian
  • エリグロアジサシJapanese
  • juodasprandė žuvėdraLithuanian
  • melnkakla zīriņšLatvian
  • TrobakafotsyMalagasy
  • പിടലികറുപ്പൻ ആളMalayalam
  • Burung Camar Tengkuk HitamMalay
  • zwartneksternDutch
  • svartnakketerneNorwegian
  • KerkirsPalauan
  • rybitwa równikowaPolish
  • gaivina-de-nuca-pretaPortuguese
  • andorinha-do-mar-de-samatraPortuguese
  • Garajau-de-nuca-negraPortuguese
  • Светлая крачкаRussian
  • rybár čiernotylovýSlovak
  • Sumatranska čigraSerbian
  • svartnackad tärnaSwedish
  • นกนางนวลแกลบท้ายทอยดำThai
  • Tala tuʻakiuʻuliTongan
  • Kara Enseli SumruTurkish
  • крячок індонезійськийUkrainian
  • 黑枕燕鸥Chinese
  • 蒼燕鷗Chinese
  • 蒼燕鷗〔黑枕燕鷗〕Chinese
  • 黑枕燕鷗Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the black-naped tern

Other species in the same genus Sterna.

CompareBlack-naped tern vs Common ternBlack-naped tern vs Arctic ternBlack-naped tern vs Roseate ternBlack-naped tern vs River tern

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the black-naped tern?

An adult black-naped tern weighs 106 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the black-naped tern live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the black-naped tern for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the black-naped tern endangered?

The black-naped tern is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the black-naped tern?

The black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-naped-tern

MLA

“Black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-naped-tern.

BibTeX
@misc{black_naped_tern_2026,
  title = {Black-naped tern (Sterna sumatrana)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/black-naped-tern},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}