Bulweria

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Bulweria
Bulwer's petrel (Bulweria bulwerii)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Bulweria
Bonaparte, 1843
Type species
Procellaria bulweria (Bulwer's petrel)
Jardine & Selby, 1828
Species

Bulweria bulwerii
Bulweria fallax
Bulweria bifax

Bulweria is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae named after English naturalist James Bulwer. The genus has two extant species, Bulwer's petrel and Jouanin's petrel. A third species, the Olson's petrel, became extinct in the early 16th century; it is known only from skeletal remains. Bulwer's petrel ranges in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, whereas Joaunin's petrel is confined to the northwestern Indian Ocean. Olson's petrel is known from the Atlantic.

Bulweria petrels have long been considered related to the gadfly petrels in the genus Pterodroma, but recent mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis has proven them to be closely related to the shearwaters in the genus Puffinus and especially the Procellaria petrels.[1]

Taxonomy[edit]

The genus Bulweria was introduced in 1843 by the French naturalist Charles Lucien Bonaparte to accommodate Bulwer's petrel.[2] The petrel had originally been placed in the genus Procellaria. The genus name is from the specific epithet for Bulwer's petrel, bulwerii. This had been coined in 1828 by the naturalists Jardine and Selby to acknowledge the artist and naturalist James Bulwer who had collected the type specimen on the island of Madeira.[3]

The genus contains three species:[4]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
Bulwer's petrel Bulweria bulwerii (Jardine & Selby, 1828) Cabo Verde, China, French Guiana, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Senegal and Taiwan
Jouanin's petrel Bulweria fallax Jouanin, 1955 northwestern Indian Ocean.
Olson's petrel Bulweria bifax Olson, 1975 (extinct) Saint Helena.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Bretagnolle, Vincent; Attié, Carole & Pasquet, Eric (1998). "Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae)" (PDF). Auk. 115 (1): 188–195. doi:10.2307/4089123. JSTOR 4089123.
  2. ^ Bonaparte, Charles Lucien (1842). "Catalogo Metodico degli Uccelli Europie (Continuazione)". Nuovi Annali delle Scienze Naturali. 8: 425–428 [426]. The volume is dated 1842 but the article was not published until 1843.
  3. ^ Jardine, William; Selby, Prideaux John (1828). Illustrations of Ornithology. Vol. 2. Edinburgh: W.H. Lizars. Plate 65, text.
  4. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Petrels, albatrosses". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 3 January 2022.