In 1990 Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist included auks and skuas in a broader family Laridae.

[4] A molecular phylogenetic study by Baker and colleagues published in 2007 found that the noddies in the genus Anous formed a sister group to a clade containing the gulls, skimmers, and the other terns.

[5] To create a monophyletic family group, Laridae was expanded to include the genera that had previously been in Sternidae and Rynchopidae.

[5] The German palaeontologist Gerald Mayr has questioned the validity of these early dates and suggested that inappropriate fossils were used in calibrating the molecular data.

Part of the cladogram of the genera in the order Charadriiformes based on the analysis by Baker and colleagues published in 2007.