Little/Audubon's Shearwater complex (1 Viewer)

Onley & Scofield 2007 (Helm Field Guides - Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World) proposes another variant of the Little/Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri) complex:

Subantarctic Little Shearwater P. elegans (monotypic);
Little Shearwater P. assimilis (ssps. assimilis, kermadecensis, haurakiensis, tunneyi);
Macaronesian Shearwater P. baroli (monotypic);
Audubon's Shearwater P. lherminieri (ssps. lherminieri, loyemilleri, boydi);
Bannerman's Shearwater P. bannermani (monotypic);
Arabian Shearwater P. persicus (ssps. persicus, temptator);
Tropical Shearwater P. bailloni (ssps. bailloni, dichrous);
Galápagos Shearwater P. subalaris (monotypic);
Newell's Shearwater P. newelli (ssps. newelli, myrtae);
Townsend's Shearwater P. auricularis (monotypic);
Heinroth's Shearwater P. heinrothi (monotypic).

The treatment of baroli, boydi, persicus and bailloni is particularly interesting from a Western Palearctic perspective.

It should be mentioned that the "big picture" of this taxonomic treatment is based on a range of papers published in 2004/5, and as such it isn't the "invention" of Onley & Scofield. Regardless, great that they've managed to get these fairly recent changes into their book, dispite the fact that some of them must have been published fairly close to their deadline. However, a few things should be noted:

1) Some of the results on which this new taxonomy is based are labeled with a bit of uncertainty, as mainly based on mtDNA (which, at least in some cases, can be a bit misleading in Procellariiformes).
2) Splitting baroli from the lherminieri group is mainly based on morphology, as they genetically appear to be very close.
3) loyemilleri is perhaps better treated as a junior synonym of lherminieri, as the most recent papers have been unable to find any clear differences.

Anyway, I've ordered the book and certainly look forward to seeing it.

Puffinus elegans

Richard Klim said:

Onley & Scofield 2007 (Helm Field Guides - Albatrosses, Petrels and Shearwaters of the World) proposes another variant of the Little/Audubon's Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis/lherminieri) complex:

Subantarctic Little Shearwater P. elegans (monotypic);

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IOC Update Diary:

Aug 25 Accept Subantarctic Shearwater

Mohéli Shearwater

Shirihai & Bretagnolle 2015. The poorly known Mohéli Shearwater Puffinus (persicus) temptator at the Comoro Islands, western Indian Ocean. Bull BOC 135(3): 216–223.

SUMMARY.—The results of a pelagic expedition to study Mohéli Shearwater Puffinus (persicus) temptator at sea off the islands of Grande Comoro, Mohéli and Anjouan, in the western Indian Ocean, in November 2014, are presented. Variation in underwing pattern of temptator is described for the first time, as are its foraging behaviour at sea, providing the first natural history data for this poorly known taxon. In addition, observations of an unidentified, smaller shearwater, are also reported.

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del Hoyo et al 2014 (HBW Alive).

Puffinus newelli

BirdLife's Globally Threatened Bird Forums

Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus newelli) is being split: assessment of newly recognised taxa.
Posted on May 11, 2018 by James Westrip (BirdLife)

Follow a taxonomic reassessment, Newell’s Shearwater (Puffinus newelli), has been split into Newell’s Shearwater (P. newelli) and Rapa Shearwater (P. myrtae). The newly defined Newell’s Shearwater breeds on Hawaiian Islands, predominantly on Kaua`i, while Rapa Shearwater is only known to breed on four tiny islets around Rapa, French Polynesia, and also potentially in the interior of the main island too (see Thibault and Varney 1991, Shirihai et al. 2017, del Hoyo et al. 2018).

Both of the newly recognised taxa are under threat from introduced predators, with rats, cats and the mongoose Herpestes javanicus all potentially impacting P. newelli (NSWG 2005), while cats and Polynesian Rats (Rattus exulans) may be impacting P. myrtae (see Thibault and Varney 1991). Introduced species may also be impacting habitat quality for both species too, with habitat alteration by pigs, goats and strawberry guava on Hawaiian islands (Mitchell et al. 2005, NSWG 2005); while goat grazing may be having an impact on habitat quality for P. myrtae too, in addition to anthropogenic land clearance and cultivation (see Thibault and Varney 1991). It is also not only introduced species that have impacted P. newelli. Hurricanes Iwa and Iniki both had a devastating impact on forests of Kaua`i in 1982 and 1992 (e.g. Ainley et al. 1997); and the species is heavily impacted by collisions with man-made structures as well as being attracted by artificially lighting (see Podolsky et al. 1998, Mitchell et al. 2005, Anon. 2007).

The taxonomic concept of P. myrtae was recently assessed by UICN France et al. (2015), in the Red List of French Polynesia, to be Endangered (although in there it is treated as a subspecies of P. auricularis), yet this document does not provide supporting evidence for the criteria string used.

The pre-split species was listed as Endangered due to declines placed in the range 50-79% over three generations (BirdLife International 2018) as a result of the known threats to individuals from Hawaii (as the majority of the pre-split species was of subspecies P. n. newelli), but recent information from Raine et al. (2017) suggests that declines in the newly defined P. newelli could be occurring at an even greater rate.