[JCL]

Does anyone know whether the breeding ranges of Yelkouan and Balearic Shearwaters overlap in the Mediterranean, or whether they are allopatric?

Thanks in advance

James

[Jane Turner]

Manx Shearwater
Puffinus puffinus to be treated as three species:

Manx Shearwater P. puffinus (monotypic)

Balearic Shearwater P. mauretanicus (monotypic)

Levantine Shearwater P. yelkouan (monotypic)

Balearic Shearwater and Levantine Shearwater differ from Manx Shearwater in plumage, structure, feeding habitat and timing of breeding, and possibly vocalizations (Bourne et al. 1988). Phylogenetic analyses of mitochondrial DNA (Austin 1996, Heidrich et al. 1998) do not unequivocally support a close (sister-group) relationship of Manx Shearwater with Balearic Shearwater and Levantine Shearwater.

Balearic and Levantine Shearwaters differ in the anatomy of the skull (Walker et al. 1990, Altaba 1995) and are also genetically divergent (Heidrich et al. 1998). Phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA indicates that haplotypes of these taxa form separate monophyletic groups (Heidrich et al. 1998) which indicate that they have been on independent evolutionary tracks for a considerable time. This is supported by the fact that, despite close proximity of breeding colonies, there are no reports of interbreeding between Balearic Shearwater and Levantine Shearwater. The recent discovery of two extinct shearwaters, Hole's Shearwater P. holeae (Walker et al. 1990) and Olson's Shearwater P. olsoni (McMinn et al. 1990), which occurred sympatrically in the eastern Canary Islands, indicates that the group of middle-sized Puffinus shearwaters has been more diverse in the past. The phylogenetic relationships of these taxa are not yet resolved but it has been suggested that Balearic Shearwater may actually be more closely related to Hole's Shearwater than to Levantine Shearwater (Walker et al. 1990). The taxonomic status of Puffinus mauretanicus is reviewed by Yésou & Paterson 1999) and G. Sangster et al. (in prep.).

[JCL]

Thanks Jane. What's the source for this? looks like a BOU news release?

[Jane Turner]

It was... I merely googled Levantine, Balearic and allopatric

[JCL]

Thanks, Jane.

[halftwo]

JCL, And I found this:
Summary: Puffinus yelkouan breeds in the Mediterranean, but its precise distribution is not well known and numbers are disputed. It is thought to have a large global breeding population of 14,750-52,300 pairs on islands off France (250-300 pairs), Italy (11,000-18,000 pairs), Malta (1,000+ pairs), Greece (1,000-2,000 pairs), Albania (1-10 pairs), Croatia (500-1,000 pairs) and Turkey (1,000-30,000 pairs) (Snow and Perrins 1998). Further breeding grounds may exist off the coasts of Bulgaria, Turkey and Tunisia where thousands of birds congregate during the breeding season.
Range & population Puffinus mauretanicus breeds in the Balearic Islands, Spain. Its breeding population has been recently estimated at 1,750-2,125 pairs1,3 and at 1,447-1,927 pairs2, both significant reductions from the 3,300 breeding pairs estimated in 1991. However, there has been no exhaustive census due to the inaccessibility of breeding sites and this precludes an accurate estimation of population trends. Up to 70% of the population breeds in cliffs on Formentera and surrounding islets. The remainder of the population are on Mallorca, Cabrera, Menorca and Ibiza, primarily on islets rather than the main islands themselves.
So, it would appear that they are allopatric.
Halftwo

[JCL]

Thanks, halftwo (and it is, here in Argentina!)