| Long-billed murrelet | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Alcidae |
| Genus: | Brachyramphus |
| Species: | B. perdix
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| Binomial name | |
| Brachyramphus perdix (Pallas, 1811)
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The long-billed murrelet (Brachyramphus perdix) is a small seabird from the North Pacific. The genus name Brachyramphus is from Ancient Greek brakhus, "short", and rhamphos, "bill". The species name perdix is Latin for "partridge" Pallas described this auk as Magnitudine Perdicis.[2] "Murrelet" is a diminutive of "murre", a word of uncertain origins, but which may imitate the call of the common guillemot.[3][4]
This auk is an unusual member of the auk family, often nesting far inland in old growth forests. The long-billed murrelet, like its cousins the marbled and Kittlitz's murrelets, is thought to have experienced a decline in numbers recently.
It closely resembles the marbled murrelet, of which it was considered a subspecies until 1998, when Friesen et al. showed that the mtDNA variation was greater between these two forms than between marbled and Kittlitz's murrelets.
This species is found from Kamchatka to the Sea of Okhotsk. Most birds winter in the seas around northern Japan with some reaching South Korea and southern Japan. The Marbled Murrelet, in contrast tends to remain closer to its breeding grounds.
- ^ BirdLife International (2018). "Brachyramphus perdix". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22729000A132305542. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-2.RLTS.T22729000A132305542.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 76, 297. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ "Murrelet". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "Murre". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)