_Sterna lunata_ Peale, U. S. Expl. Exped., 8, 1848, p. 277. (Type
locality, Vincennes Island, Paumotu Group.)
_Sterna lunata_ Hartlaub, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1867 (1868), p.
831 (Pelew); Hartlaub and Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868,
pp. 9, 118 (Pelew); _idem_, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1872, pp. 90,
113 (Pelew); Finsch, Journ. Mus. Godeffroy, 8, 1875, pp. 5, 41
(Palau); Saunders, Cat. Birds British Mus., 25, 1896, p. 100
(Pelew); Takatsukasa and Kuroda, 1, 1915, p. 62 (Ruk, Pelew);
Hand-list Japanese Birds, rev., 1932, p. 195 (Palau); Hand-list
Japanese Birds, 3d ed., 1942, p. 218 (Palau); Mayr, Birds
Southwest Pacific, 1945, p. 26 (Micronesia).
_Onychoprion lunatus_ Salvadori, Ornith. Papuasia, 3, 1882, p. 451
(Pelew); Wiglesworth, Abhandl. und Ber. Zool. Mus. Dresden, no. 6,
1890-1891 (1891), p. 76 (Pelew).
_Melanosterna lunata_ Kuroda, in Momiyama, Birds Micronesia, 1922,
p. 52 (Pelew).
_Geographic range._--Breeds in Oceania from the Hawaiian Group
south to Fiji and the Tuamotus and west to the Moluccas. In
Micronesia: Palau Islands--exact locality not known.
_Remarks._--Finsch (1875:41) recorded specimens taken by Tetens, Peters
and Kubary at the Palau Islands. Coultas obtained one immature male at
sea south of the eastern Caroline Islands at 1° 25´ N and 159° E on
October 19, 1930. The Spectacled Tern ranges throughout the tropical
Pacific, spending considerable time at sea, and probably reaches most
parts of Micronesia in its travels.
=Sterna anaetheta anaetheta= Scopoli