Pseudobulweria

Pseudobulweria
Tahiti petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Pseudobulweria
Mathews, 1936
Type species
Thalassidroma macgillivrayi (Fiji petrel)
Gray, 1860
Diversity
four extant species,
one extinct after 1500

Pseudobulweria is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. They have long been retained with the gadfly petrel genus Pterodroma despite morphological differences. Mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b sequence analysis has confirmed the split out of Pterodroma and places the genus closer to shearwaters. They thus represent either a plesiomorphic lineage still sharing some traits of the ancestral Procellariidae with the gadfly petrels, or convergent evolution of a shearwater to the ecological niche of gadfly petrels.[1]

They are a poorly known and highly endangered group: 3 of the 4 extant species are listed by the IUCN as critically endangered. The Tahiti petrel (Pseudobulweria rostrata) is the most familiar and the best studied.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bretagnolle was invoked but never defined (see the help page).