Birds Guide

Gadfly Petrels
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves   Order: Procellariiformes   Family: Procellariidae   Genus: Pterodroma Bonaparte, 1856
Species
About 35, see text.

The gadfly petrels are seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. These medium to large petrels feed on food items picked from the ocean surface.

The short, sturdy bills of the Pterodroma species in this group, about 35 altogether, are adapted for soft prey taken at the surface; they have twisted intestines for digesting marine animals which have unusual biochemistries.

Their complex wing and face marking are probably for interspecific recognition.

These birds nest in colonies on islands and are pelagic when not breeding. One white egg is laid usually in a burrow or on open ground. They are nocturnal at the breeding colonies.

Species

The taxonomy of the gadfly petrels is being reformed at the moment. Several genera have been split off over time, as they are closer to the procellarine and Puffinus shearwaters. Some subspecies have been raised to full species rank. The arrangement given here is traditional, but annotates the changes proposed by Austin (1998) and Bretagnolle et al. (1998). For the current taxonomy, see also Brooke (2004).

Genus Pterodroma

• Barau's Petrel, Pterodroma baraui
  Herald Petrel, Pterodroma arminjoniana
  Juan Fernandez Petrel, Pterodroma externa
  Kermadec Petrel, Pterodroma neglecta
  Galapagos Petrel, Pterodroma phaeopygia
  Hawaiian Petrel, Pterodroma sandwichensis
  Henderson Petrel, Pterodroma atrata
  Herald Petrel, Pterodroma heraldica
  Phoenix Petrel, Pterodroma alba
  Fea's Petrel, Pterodroma feae
  Zino's Petrel or Madeira Petrel, Pterodroma madeira
  Canary Islands Petrel, Pterodroma sp. (prehistoric) - possibly extirpated population of extant species
  Soft-plumaged Petrel, Pterodroma mollis
  Bermuda Petrel, Pterodroma cahow
  Black-capped Petrel, Pterodroma hasitata
  Jamaica Petrel, Pterodroma caribbaea (probably extinct)
  Atlantic Petrel, Pterodroma incerta
  White-headed Petrel, Pterodroma lessonii
  Magenta Petrel, Pterodroma magentae
  Great-winged Petrel, Pterodroma macroptera
  Providence Petrel, Pterodroma solandri
  Murphy's Petrel, Pterodroma ultima
  Mottled Petrel, Pterodroma inexpectata
  Pycroft's Petrel, Pterodroma pycrofti
  Stejneger's Petrel, Pterodroma longirostris
  Collared Petrel, Pterodroma brevipes
  Gould's Petrel, Pterodroma leucoptera
  Mangareva Petrel, Pterodroma cf. leucoptera (possibly extinct)
  Cook's Petrel, Pterodroma cookii
  Mas a Tierra Petrel, Pterodroma defilippiana
  Bonin Petrel, Pterodroma hypoleuca
  White-necked Petrel, Pterodroma cervicalis
  Falla's Petrel, Pterodroma occulta
  Black-winged Petrel, Pterodroma nigripennis
  Chatham Petrel, Pterodroma axillaris
  Chatham Extinct Petrel, Pterodroma sp. (prehistoric)
  Henderson Island Petrel, Pterodroma sp. (prehistoric)
  O‘ahu Petrel, Pterodroma jugabilis (prehistoric)

Now Lugensa (allied to Puffinus)

• Kerguelen Petrel, Pterodroma brevirostris

Now Pseudobulweria (allied to Puffinus)

• Fiji Petrel Pterodroma macgillivrayi
  Tahiti Petrel, Pterodroma rostrata
  Beck's Petrel, Pterodroma becki
  Mascarene Petrel, Pterodroma aterrima
  St Helena Petrel, Pterodroma rupinarum (extinct)

References

• Austin, Jeremy J. (1996): Molecular Phylogenetics of Puffinus Shearwaters: Preliminary Evidence from Mitochondrial Cytochrome b Gene Sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 6(1): 77–88 DOI:10.1006/mpev.1996.0060 (HTML abstract)
• Bretagnolle, V., Attié, C., Pasquet, E., (1998) "Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae)" Auk 115(1):188-195 PDf fulltext
• Brooke, M. (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN 0-19-850125-0