PETREL

:''This article is about the petrel seabirds. For other uses, see petrel (disambiguation). The flammable liquid is correctly spelt petrol.

'Petrels' are tube-nosed seabirds in the bird order Procellariiformes. The common name does not indicate relationship beyond that point, as "petrels" occur in three of the four families within that group (except the Albatross family, Diomedeidae). Having a fossil record that was assumed to extend back at least 60 million years, the Procellariiformes was long considered to be among the older bird groupings, other than the ratites, with presumably distant ties to penguins and loons. However, recent research and fossil finds such as ''Vegavis'' show that the Galliformes (Pheasants, Grouse and relatives), and Anseriformes (ducks, geese and swans) are older, while the relationships of the tube-nosed seabirds are still not fully resolved.
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. 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 (Austin, 1996; Bretagnolle ''et al''., 1998; Nunn & Stanley, 1998 and Brooke, 2004):

★ The fulmarine petrels: 7 species: surface predators and filter feeders, breed in high latitudes but migrate along cool currents to the north. All but ''Fulmarus'' essentially confined to the south, ''Fulmarus'' apparently colonised the N hemisphere during the Early Miocene.

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★ The huge giant petrels, genus ''Macronectes'', which are convergent with the albatrosses,

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★ The true fulmars, genus ''Fulmarus'',

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★ Antarctic Petrel ''Thalassoica antarctica'',

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★ Cape Petrel ''Daption capense'',

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★ Snow Petrel ''Pagodroma nivea''.

★ The prions: A specialised group of a few very numerous species, all southern. They have a small, fulmar-like form and mostly filter-feed on zooplankton.

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★ ''Pachyptila'', the prions proper

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★ Blue Petrel ''Halobaena caerula''.

★ The procellariine petrels, larger or mid-sized species feeding on fish and molluscs which are fairly close to the prions:

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★ ''Procellaria'' and

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★ ''Bulweria''.

★ Shearwaters: numerous species in several genera with a medium number of species.

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★ ''Calonectris'',

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★ ''Puffinus'', which is in fact two rather distinct groups of larger and smaller species,

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★ ''Pseudobulweria'',

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★ Kerguelen Petrel ''Lugensa brevirostris''.

★ The gadfly petrels: These are a considerable number of agile short-billed petrels in the genus ''Pterodroma'' which include the endangered Bermuda Petrel or Cahow and a considerable number of forms rendered extinct by human activity.
The family 'Hydrobatidae' is the 'storm-petrels', small pelagic petrels with a fluttering flight which often follow ships.
The family 'Pelecanoididae' is the four species of 'diving petrels', genus ''Pelacanoides''. These are auk-like small petrels of the southern oceans.

Contents

Etymology

See also

References

External links

Etymology

The word "petrel" comes from the Latin name for the Christian Saint Peter, and refers to the habits of certain species to hover just above the ocean waves, with their feet barely touching the water, thus giving an appearance of walking on water, as St. Peter is said to have done.

See also

★ Skua

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 (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

★ 'Nunn', Gary B. & 'Stanley', Scott E. (1998): Body Size Effects and Rates of Cytochrome ''b'' Evolution in Tube-Nosed Seabirds. ''Molecular Biology and Evolution'' '15': 1360-1371. PDF fulltext Corrigendum

External links

★ Petrel and Shearwater videos on the Internet Bird Collection

★ [www.acap.aq Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP)]