Kerguelen petrel

{{Speciesbox

| name = Kerguelen petrel

| image = LugensaBrevirostris.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{Cite journal | author = BirdLife International | title = Aphrodroma brevirostris | journal = The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species | volume = 2016 | page = e.T22697888A93645875 | publisher = IUCN | date = 2016 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22697888A93645875.en | doi-access = free }}

| genus = Aphrodroma

| parent_authority = Olson, 2000

| species = brevirostris

| authority = (Lesson, 1831)

| synonyms = Pterodroma brevirostris

Lugensa brevirostris

| range_map = Aphrodroma brevirostris map.svg

}}

File:Aphrodroma MHNT.zoo.2010.11.43.24.jpg]]

The Kerguelen petrel (Aphrodroma brevirostris) is a small (36 cm long) slate-grey seabird in the family Procellariidae. It is the only species placed in the genus Aphrodroma. It is a pelagic, circumpolar seabird of the Southern Ocean. It breeds on islands in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Taxonomy

The Kerguelen petrel was formally described in 1831 by the French naturalist René Lesson. He placed it in the genus Procellaria that had been erected for the petrels by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 and coined the binomial name Procellaria brevirostris.{{ cite book | last=Lesson | first=René | author-link=René Lesson | year=1831 | title=Traité d'Ornithologie, ou Tableau Méthodique | volume=1 | language=French | location=Paris | publisher=F.G. Levrault | page=611 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/35997595 }} Published in 8 livraisons between 1830 and 1831. For the publication date see: {{ cite book | last1=Dickinson | first1=E.C. | author1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | last2=Overstreet | first2=L.K. | last3=Dowsett | first3=R.J. | last4=Bruce | first4=M.D. | year=2011 | title=Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers | location=Northampton, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-1-5 | page=119 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267763194 }}{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=131 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727036 }} The Kerguelen petrel was formerly included with the gadfly petrels in the genus Pterodroma{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=63 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14478118}} and later in the monotypic genre Lugensa but is now placed in the genus Aphrodroma that was introduced for the Kerguelen petrel by Storrs L. Olson in 2000.{{ cite journal | last=Olson | first=Storrs L. | author-link=Storrs L. Olson | date=2000 | title=A new genus for the Kerguelen petrel | journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club | volume=120 | pages=59–62 [60] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40025629 }}{{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=1 January 2022 }} The name Aphrodroma combines the Ancient Greek aphros meaning "sea foam" with -dromos meaning "-racer".The specific epithet brevirostris is from the Latin brevis meaning "short" and -rostris meaning "-billed".{{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/n50/mode/1up 50], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n77/mode/1up 77]}} The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Breeding

Kerguelen petrels breed colonially on remote islands; colonies are present on Gough Island in the Atlantic Ocean, and Marion Island, Prince Edward Island, Crozet Islands and Kerguelen Island in the Indian Ocean. The species attends its colonies nocturnally, breeding in burrows in wet soil. The burrows usually face away from the prevailing wind. A single egg is laid per breeding season; the egg is unusually round for the family. The egg is incubated by both parents for 49 days. After hatching the chick fledges after 60 days.

References

External links

[http://www.kiwifoto.com/galleries/birds/kerguelen_petrel/ Kerguelen Petrel Photos]
[http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/Taxon.aspx?irn=8980 Specimens of the Kerguelen Petrel in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa]

Kerguelen petrel

Category:Birds of subantarctic islands

Category:Fauna of the Kerguelen Islands

Category:Fauna of the Crozet Islands

Category:Fauna of Gough Island

Category:Fauna of the Prince Edward Islands

Kerguelen petrel

Category:Taxa named by René Lesson