Calonectris

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = CorysShearwaterBottom.jpg

| name = Calonectris

| taxon = Calonectris

| authority = Mathews & Iredale, 1915

| type_species = Puffinus leucomelas (streaked shearwater)

| type_species_authority = Temminck, 1835

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision =

Calonectris leucomelas

Calonectris diomedea

Calonectris borealis

Calonectris edwardsii

}}

Calonectris is a genus of seabirds. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek kalos, "good" and nectris, "swimmer".

The genus comprises four large shearwaters. There are two other shearwater genera, Puffinus, which comprises 21 small to medium-sized shearwaters, and Ardenna with 7 larger species.{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Petrels, albatrosses | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/petrels/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=2 January 2022 }}{{cite journal | last1=Penhallurick | first1=John | last2=Wink | first2=Michael | year=2004 | title=Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariformes based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene | journal=Emu |volume= 104 | issue=2 | pages= 125–147 | doi=10.1071/MU01060| bibcode=2004EmuAO.104..125P | s2cid=83202756 }}{{cite journal |last1=Estandia |first1=A |last2=Chesser |first2=RT |last3=James |first3=HF |last4=Levy |first4=MA |last5=Ferrer Obiol |first5=J |last6=Bretagnolle |first6=V |last7=Gonzales-Solis |first7=J |last8=Welch |first8=AJ |title=Substitution rate variation in a robust procellariiform seabird phylogeny is not solely explained by body mass, flight efficiency, population size or life history traits |journal=bioRxiv |date=July 2021 |doi=10.1101/2021.07.27.453752|s2cid=236502443 |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/07/27/2021.07.27.453752.full.pdf }}

The species in this group are long-winged birds, dark brown or grey-brown above, and mainly white below. They are pelagic outside the breeding season. They are most common in temperate and cold waters. Like most other tubenose birds, they use a shearing flight technique to move across wave fronts with the minimum of active flight, but fly with a more relaxed, fluid, flexible wing action than the other shearwaters in Puffinus and Ardenna.Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterström, D. (2022) Collins Bird Guide, ed. 3. {{ISBN|978-0-00-854746-2}}, pages 68-69

Calonectris shearwaters are long-distance migrants. The streaked shearwater disperses from its east Asian breeding islands throughout the western Pacific and into the eastern Indian Ocean. They come to islands and coastal cliffs only to breed. They are nocturnal at the colonial breeding sites, preferring moonless nights to minimise predation. They nest in burrows and often give eerie contact calls on their night time visits. They lay a single white egg. They feed on fish, squid and similar oceanic food. They will follow fishing boats to take scraps.

Taxonomy

The genus Calonectris was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists Gregory Mathews and Tom Iredale with the streaked shearwater as the type species.{{ cite journal | last1=Mathews | first1=Gregory M. | author1-link=Gregory Mathews | last2=Iredale | first2=Tom | author2-link=Tom Iredale | year=1915 | title=On some petrels from the North-East Pacific Ocean | journal=Ibis | volume=57 | issue=3 | pages=572–609 [590, 592] | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.1915.tb08206.x | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8750380 }} The genus name combines the Ancient Greek kalos meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name Nectris that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name Nectris comes from the Ancient Greek nēktris meaning "swimmer".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n86/mode/1up 86], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n267/mode/1up 267] }}{{ cite book | last=Kuhl | first=Heinrich | author-link=Heinrich Kuhl | date=1820 | title=Beiträge zur Zoologie und vergleichenden Anatomie | language=German, Latin | location=Frankfurt am Main | publisher=Verlag der Hermannschen Buchhandlung | page=148 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/28230944 }}

Scopoli's shearwater and Cory's shearwater were previously considered as conspecific and formed the Cory's shearwater complex (Calonectris diomedea). Based on the lack of hybridization and differences in mitochondrial DNA, morphology and vocalisation, the complex was split into two separate species. The English name "Cory's shearwater" was transferred to Calonectris borealis while what was previously the nominate subspecies became Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea).{{ cite journal | last1=Sangster | first1=G. | last2=Collinson | first2=J.M. | last3=Crochet | first3=P.-A. | last4=Knox | first4=A.G. | last5=Parkin | first5=D.T. | last6=Votier | first6=S.C. | author1-link=George Sangster | year=2012 | title=Taxonomic recommendations for Western Palearctic birds: eighth report | journal=Ibis | volume=154 | issue=4 | pages=874–883 | doi=10.1111/j.1474-919X.2012.01273.x | doi-access=free}}

=Species=

The genus contains four species.

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution{{cite book \|last1=del Hoyo\|first1=Josep \|title=All the birds of the world \|date=2020 \|publisher=Lynx Edicions \|location=Barcelona \|isbn=978-84-16728-37-4 \|page=201}}
class="wikitable"
120px	Calonectris leucomelas	Streaked shearwater	Pacific Ocean, nesting in Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Forages in the western Pacific between 45°N and 35°S.
120px	Calonectris borealis	Cory's shearwater	Breeds on Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands and the Berlengas islands off the Portuguese coast. Forages in the Atlantic between 60°N and 36°S; also marginally into the western Mediterranean, and the Indian Ocean off South Africa.
120px	Calonectris diomedea	Scopoli's shearwater	Breeds on Mediterranean islands. Forages in the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic between 50°N and 36°S; also marginally into the Indian Ocean off South Africa.
	Calonectris edwardsii	Cape Verde shearwater	Breeds on the Cape Verde Islands. Forages in the Atlantic between 18°N and 40°S.

Extinct species, Calonectris krantzi from the Early Pliocene and Calonectris wingatei from the Middle Pleistocene, have also been described from fossils. Calonectris kurodai, another fossil from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Chesapeake Bay is named after the Japanese ornithologist Nagahisa Kuroda.{{cite journal|doi=10.2988/09-19.1 |title=A new diminutive species of shearwater of the genus Calonectris (Aves: Procellariidae) from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation of Chesapeake Bay |journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington |volume=122 |issue=4 |pages=466–470 |year=2009 |last1=Olson |first1=Storrs L. |s2cid=86663993 }}

=Phylogeny=

Phylogeny based on a study by Joan Ferrer Obiol and collaborators published in 2022.{{Cite journal | last1=Ferrer Obiol | first1=J. | last2=James | first2=H.F. | last3=Chesser | first3=R.T. | last4=Bretagnolle | first4=V. | last5=González-Solís | first5=J. | last6=Rozas | first6=J. | last7=Welch | first7=A.J. | last8=Riutort | first8=M. | date=2022 | title=Palaeoceanographic changes in the late Pliocene promoted rapid diversification in pelagic seabirds | journal=Journal of Biogeography | volume=49 | issue=1 | pages=171–188 | doi=10.1111/jbi.14291 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2022JBiog..49..171F | hdl=2445/193747 | hdl-access=free }}

{{Clade

|label1=Calonectris

|1={{clade

|1=Streaked shearwater, Calonectris leucomela

|2={{clade

|1=Cape Verde shearwater, Calonectris edwardsii

|2={{clade

|1=Cory's shearwater, Calonectris borealis

|2=Scopoli's shearwater, Calonectris diomedea

}}

Calonectris

Taxonomy

=Species=

=Phylogeny=

References

Further reading