Calonectris

Calonectris
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Procellariidae
Genus:	Calonectris ; Mathews & Iredale, 1915
Type species
	Puffinus leucomelas (streaked shearwater); Temminck, 1835
Species
	Calonectris leucomelas ; Calonectris diomedea ; Calonectris borealis ; Calonectris edwardsii Contents Taxonomy ; Species ; Phylogeny ; References ; Further reading ;

Last updated September 10, 2024

Calonectris is a genus of seabirds. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek kalos, "good" and nectris, "swimmer".

The genus comprises four large shearwaters. There are two other shearwater genera, Puffinus , which comprises 21 small to medium-sized shearwaters, and Ardenna with 7 larger species.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The species in this group are long-winged birds, dark brown or grey-brown above, and mainly white below. They are pelagic outside the breeding season. They are most common in temperate and cold waters. Like most other tubenose birds, they use a shearing flight technique to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight, but fly with a more relaxed, fluid, flexible wing action than the other shearwaters in Puffinus and Ardenna.^[4]

Calonectris shearwaters are long-distance migrants. The streaked shearwater disperses from its east Asian breeding islands throughout the western Pacific and into the eastern Indian Ocean. They come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimise predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their night time visits. They lay a single white egg. They feed on fish, squid and similar oceanic food. They will follow fishing boats to take scraps.

Taxonomy

The genus Calonectris was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale with the streaked shearwater as the type species.^[5] The genus name combines the Ancient Greek kalos meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name Nectris that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name Nectris comes from the Ancient Greek nēktris meaning "swimmer".^[6]^[7]

Scopoli's shearwater and Cory's shearwater were previously considered as conspecific and formed the Cory's shearwater complex (Calonectris diomedea). Based on the lack of hybridization and differences in mitochondrial DNA, morphology and vocalisation, the complex was split into two separate species. The English name "Cory's shearwater" was transferred to Calonectris borealis while what was previously the nominate subspecies became Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea).^[8]^[1]

Species

The genus contains four species.^[1]

Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution^[9]
Calonectris leucomelas	Streaked shearwater	Pacific Ocean, nesting in Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Forages in the western Pacific between 45°N and 35°S.
Calonectris borealis	Cory's shearwater	Breeds on Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands and the Berlengas islands off the Portuguese coast. Forages in the Atlantic between 60°N and 36°S; also marginally into the western Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean off South Africa.
Calonectris diomedea	Scopoli's shearwater	Breeds on Mediterranean islands. Forages in the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic between 50°N and 36°S; also marginally into the Indian Ocean off South Africa.
Calonectris edwardsii	Cape Verde shearwater	Breeds on the Cape Verde Islands. Forages in the Atlantic between 18°N and 40°S.

Extinct species, Calonectris krantzi from the Early Pliocene and Calonectris wingatei from the Middle Pleistocene, have also been described from fossils. Calonectris kurodai, another fossil from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Chesapeake Bay is named after the Japanese ornithologist Nagahisa Kuroda.^[10]

Phylogeny

Phylogeny based on a study by Joan Ferrer Obiol and collaborators published in 2022.^[11]

Calonectris

Streaked shearwater, Calonectris leucomela

Cape Verde shearwater, Calonectris edwardsii

	Cory's shearwater, Calonectris borealis

	Scopoli's shearwater, Calonectris diomedea

Related Research Articles

Procellariiformes is an order of seabirds that comprises four families: the albatrosses, the petrels and shearwaters, and two families of storm petrels. Formerly called Tubinares and still called tubenoses in English, procellariiforms are often referred to collectively as the petrels, a term that has been applied to all members of the order, or more commonly all the families except the albatrosses. They are almost exclusively pelagic, and have a cosmopolitan distribution across the world's oceans, with the highest diversity being around New Zealand.

Shearwaters are medium-sized long-winged seabirds in the petrel family Procellariidae. They have a global marine distribution, but are most common in temperate and cold waters, and are pelagic outside the breeding season.

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes.

The family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes, which also includes the albatrosses and the storm petrels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balearic shearwater</span> Species of bird

The Balearic shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. Puffinus is a Neo-Latin loanword based on the English "puffin" and its variants, that referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the Manx shearwater, a former delicacy. The specific mauretanicus refers to Mauretania, an old name for an area of North Africa roughly corresponding to Morocco and Algeria. The Balearic Shearwater is listed critically endangered by the IUCN and is one of Europe's most endangered seabirds.

The great shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on rocky islands in the south Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic.

Cory's shearwater is a large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It breeds colonially on the archipelago of the Azores in the eastern Atlantic. Outside the breeding season it ranges widely in the Atlantic. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Scopoli's shearwater.

The Cape Verde shearwater, or cagarra locally, is a medium-large shearwater, a seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. It is endemic to the Cape Verde archipelago of Macaronesia in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of West Africa.

The yelkouan shearwater, Levantine shearwater or Mediterranean shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of the Manx shearwater.

Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes that contains about 20 small to medium-sized shearwaters. Two other shearwater genera are named: Calonectris, which comprises three or four large shearwaters, and Ardenna with another seven species.

The wedge-tailed shearwater is a medium-large shearwater in the seabird family Procellariidae. It is one of the shearwater species that is sometimes referred to as a muttonbird, like the sooty shearwater of New Zealand and the short-tailed shearwater of Australia. It is found throughout the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans, roughly between latitudes 35°N and 35°S. It breeds on the islands off Japan, on the Islas Revillagigedo, the Hawaiian Islands, the Seychelles, the Northern Mariana Islands, and off Eastern and Western Australia.

Procellaria is a genus of Southern Ocean long-winged seabirds related to prions, and within the order Procellariiformes. The black petrel ranges in the Pacific Ocean, and as far north as Central America. The spectacled petrel is confined to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Westland petrel to the Pacific Ocean. The white-chinned and grey petrel range throughout the higher latitudes of the Southern Ocean.

The flesh-footed shearwater is a medium-sized shearwater. Its plumage is black. It has pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a distinct black tip. Together with the equally light-billed pink-footed shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies which may or may not have an Atlantic relative in the great shearwater. These large shearwaters are among those that have been separated into the genus Ardenna. Recent genetic analysis indicates evidence of strong divergence between Pacific colonies relative to those in South and Western Australia, thought to be explained by philopatry and differences in foraging strategies during the breeding season.

Buller's shearwater is a Pacific species of seabird in the family Procellariidae; it is also known as the grey-backed shearwater or New Zealand shearwater. A member of the black-billed wedge-tailed Thyellodroma group, among the larger shearwaters of the genus Ardenna, it forms a superspecies with the wedge-tailed shearwater.

The pink-footed shearwater is a species of seabird. The bird is 48 cm (19 in) in length, with a 109 cm (43 in) wingspan. It is polymorphic, having both darker- and lighter-phase populations. Together with the equally light-billed flesh-footed shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies that may or may not have an Atlantic relative in the great shearwater. These are large shearwaters which are among those that could be separated in the genus Ardenna.

Pseudobulweria is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. They have long been retained with the gadfly petrel genus Pterodroma despite morphological differences. Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequence analysis has confirmed the split out of Pterodroma and places the genus closer to shearwaters. They thus represent either a plesiomorphic lineage still sharing some traits of the ancestral Procellariidae with the gadfly petrels, or convergent evolution of a shearwater to the ecological niche of gadfly petrels.

Ardenna is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. These medium-sized to large shearwater species were formerly included in the genus Puffinus.

Scopoli's shearwater is a seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae. It breeds on rocky islands and on steep coasts in the Mediterranean but outside the breeding season it forages in the Atlantic. It is brownish grey above with darker wings and mostly white below. The bill is pale yellow with a dark patch near the tip. The sexes are alike. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with Cory's shearwater.

References

1 2 3 Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Petrels, albatrosses". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 January 2022.
↑ Penhallurick, John; Wink, Michael (2004). "Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariformes based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene". Emu. 104 (2): 125–147. Bibcode:2004EmuAO.104..125P. doi:10.1071/MU01060. S2CID 83202756.
↑ Estandia, A; Chesser, RT; James, HF; Levy, MA; Ferrer Obiol, J; Bretagnolle, V; Gonzales-Solis, J; Welch, AJ (July 2021). "Substitution rate variation in a robust procellariiform seabird phylogeny is not solely explained by body mass, flight efficiency, population size or life history traits" (PDF). bioRxiv. doi:10.1101/2021.07.27.453752. S2CID 236502443.
↑ Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterström, D. (2022) Collins Bird Guide , ed. 3. ISBN 978-0-00-854746-2, pages 68-69
↑ Mathews, Gregory M.; Iredale, Tom (1915). "On some petrels from the North-East Pacific Ocean". Ibis. 57 (3): 572–609 [590, 592]. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1915.tb08206.x.
↑ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 86, 267. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
↑ Kuhl, Heinrich (1820). Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie (in German and Latin). Frankfurt am Main: Verlag der Hermannschen Buchhandlung. p. 148.
↑ Sangster, G.; Collinson, J.M.; Crochet, P.-A.; Knox, A.G.; Parkin, D.T.; Votier, S.C. (2012). "Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: eighth report". Ibis. 154 (4): 874–883. doi: 10.1111/j.1474-919X.2012.01273.x .
↑ del Hoyo, Josep (2020). All the birds of the world. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. p. 201. ISBN 978-84-16728-37-4.
↑ Olson, Storrs L. (2009). "A new diminutive species of shearwater of the genus Calonectris (Aves: Procellariidae) from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Chesapeake Bay". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 122 (4): 466–470. doi:10.2988/09-19.1. S2CID 86663993.
↑ Ferrer Obiol, J.; James, H.F.; Chesser, R.T.; Bretagnolle, V.; González-Solís, J.; Rozas, J.; Welch, A.J.; Riutort, M. (2022). "Palaeoceanographic changes in the late Pliocene promoted rapid diversification in pelagic seabirds". Journal of Biogeography. 49 (1): 171–188. Bibcode:2022JBiog..49..171F. doi: 10.1111/jbi.14291 . hdl: 2445/193747 .