The traditional terms "plover", "lapwing" and "dotterel" were coined long before modern understandings of the relationships between different groups of birds emerged: in consequence, several of the Vanellinae are still often called "plovers", and the reverse also applies, albeit more rarely, to some Charadriinae (the "true" plovers and dotterels).
Genus Vanellus
Northern lapwing, Vanellus vanellus
White-headed plover, Vanellus albiceps
Southern lapwing, Vanellus chilensis
Grey-headed lapwing, Vanellus cinereus
Crowned lapwing, Vanellus coronatus
Long-toed lapwing, Vanellus crassirostris
River lapwing or spur-winged lapwing, Vanellus duvaucelii
Red-wattled lapwing, Vanellus indicus
Masked lapwing, Vanellus miles
Spur-winged lapwing or spur-winged plover, Vanellus spinosus
Banded lapwing, Vanellus tricolor
Blacksmith lapwing or plover, Vanellus armatus
Black-headed lapwing, Vanellus tectus
Yellow-wattled lapwing, Vanellus malabaricus
Senegal lapwing, Vanellus lugubris
Black-winged lapwing, Vanellus melanopterus
African wattled lapwing, Vanellus senegallus
Spot-breasted lapwing, Vanellus melanocephalus
Brown-chested lapwing, Vanellus superciliosus
Javanese wattled lapwing, Vanellus macropterus
Sociable lapwing, Vanellus gregarius
White-tailed lapwing, Vanellus leucurus
Pied lapwing, Vanellus cayanus
Andean lapwing, Vanellus resplendens
Genus Erythrogonys
Red-kneed dotterel, Erythrogonys cinctus
- Genus Pluvialis
- European golden plover, Pluvialis apricaria
- Pacific golden plover, Pluvialis fulva
- American golden plover, Pluvialis dominica
- Grey plover or black-bellied plover, Pluvialis squatarola
- Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius
- New Zealand plover or Dotteral, Charadrius obscurus
- Common ringed plover, Charadrius hiaticula
- Semipalmated plover, Charadrius semipalmatus
- Long-billed plover, Charadrius placidus
- Little ringed plover, Charadrius dubius
- Wilson's plover, Charadrius wilsonia
- Killdeer, Charadrius vociferus
- Piping plover, Charadrius melodus
- Madagascan plover, Charadrius thoracicus
- Kittlitz's plover, Charadrius pecuarius
- Saint Helena plover, Charadrius sanctaehelenae
- Three-banded plover, Charadrius tricollaris
- Forbes's plover, Charadrius forbesi
- Kentish plover, Charadrius alexandrinus
- Snowy plover, Charadrius nivosus,
- Javan plover, Charadrius (alexandrinus) javanicus
- White-fronted plover, Charadrius marginatus
- Red-capped plover, Charadrius ruficapillus
- Malaysian plover, Charadrius peronii
- Chestnut-banded plover, Charadrius pallidus
- Collared plover, Charadrius collaris
- Puna plover, Charadrius alticola
- Double-banded plover, Charadrius bicinctus
- Two-banded plover, Charadrius falklandicus
- Lesser sand plover, Charadrius mongolus
- Greater sand plover, Charadrius leschenaultii
- Caspian plover, Charadrius asiaticus
- Oriental plover, Charadrius veredus
- Eurasian dotterel, Charadrius morinellus
- Rufous-chested plover, Charadrius modestus
- Mountain plover, Charadrius montanus
- Genus Thinornis
- Hooded dotterel, Thinornis rubricollis
- Shore dotterel, Thinornis novaeseelandiae
- Genus Elseyornis
- Black-fronted dotterel, Elseyornis melanops
- Genus Peltohyas
- Inland dotterel, Peltohyas australis
- Genus Anarhynchus
- Wrybill, Anarhynchus frontalis
- Genus Phegornis
- Diademed plover, Phegornis mitchellii
- Genus Oreopholus