Petrel

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A Westland petrel Westland petrel flying.jpg
A Westland petrel

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

Contents

Description

Petrels are a monophyletic [1] group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". [2] Petrels encompass three of the four extant families within the Procellariiformes order, namely Procellariidae (fulmarine petrels, gadfly petrels, diving petrels, prions, and shearwaters), Hydrobatidae (northern storm petrels), and Oceanitidae (austral storm petrels). The remaining family in Procellariiformes is the albatross family, Diomedeidae.

Procellariiformes

Diomedeidae – albatrosses (21 species)

Oceanitidae – austral storm petrels (10 species)

Hydrobatidae – northern storm petrels (18 species)

Procellariidae – petrels and shearwaters (100 species)

Phylogeny of the extant procellariforms based on a study by Richard Prum and colleagues published in 2015. [1] Petrels (Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, and Oceanitidae) form a monophyletic group according to this cladogram.

Etymology

The word petrel (first recorded in that spelling 1703) comes from earlier (ca. 1670) pitteral; the English explorer William Dampier wrote the bird was so called from its way of flying with its feet just skimming the surface of the water, recalling Saint Peter's walk on the sea of Galilee (Matthew xiv.28); if so, it likely was formed in English as a diminutive of Peter (< Old French : Peterelle (?) < Late Latin : Peterellus < Late Latin : Petrus < Ancient Greek : Πέτρος, romanized: Petros < Ancient Greek : πέτρα, romanized: petra = "stone").[ citation needed ]

Known species

All the members of the order are exclusively pelagic in distribution—returning to land only to breed.

The family Procellariidae is the main radiation of medium-sized true petrels, characterised by united nostrils with medium septum, and a long outer functional primary feather. It is dominant in the Southern Oceans, but not so in the Northern Hemisphere.

It includes a number of petrel groups, the relationships between which have finally been resolved to satisfaction. [3] [4] [5] [6]

The family Oceanitidae is the austral (or southern) storm petrels, and the family Hydrobatidae is the northern storm petrels. Collectively, they are known as the storm petrels, small pelagic petrels with a fluttering flight which often follow ships.

In culture

Petrels are culturally significant, and well-known poems have been written about the bird. One such example is given here.

Up and down! - up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam
The stormy petrel finds a home, -
A home, if such a place may be
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea.

O’er the deep! - o’er the deep!
Where the whale and the shark and the sword-fish sleep, -
Outflying the blast and the driving rain,
The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!

From "The Stormy Petrel" poem by Barry Cornwall [7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Prum, R.O.; Berv, J.S.; Dornburg, A.; Field, D.J.; Townsend, J.P.; Lemmon, E.M.; Lemmon, A.R. (2015). "A comprehensive phylogeny of birds (Aves) using targeted next-generation DNA sequencing". Nature. 526 (7574): 569–573. Bibcode:2015Natur.526..569P. doi:10.1038/nature15697. PMID   26444237. S2CID   205246158.
  2. "Petrels and Shearwaters | Bird Family Overview". The RSPB.
  3. 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. Bibcode:1996MolPE...6...77A. doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0060. PMID   8812308.
  4. Bretagnolle, V., Attié, C., Pasquet, E. (1998). "Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae)" (PDF). Auk. 115(1 (1): 188–195. doi:10.2307/4089123. JSTOR   4089123.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. Nunn, Gary B. & Stanley, Scott E. (1998). "Body Size Effects and Rates of Cytochrome b Evolution in Tube-Nosed Seabirds" (PDF). Molecular Biology and Evolution. 15 (10): 1360–1371. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a025864 . PMID   9787440. Corrigendum
  6. Brooke, M. (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels Across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK. ISBN   0-19-850125-0
  7. A Library of Poetry and Song: Being Choice Selections from The Best Poets. With An Introduction by William Cullen Bryant, New York, J.B. Ford and Company, 1871, p. 354.