Bulweria

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Bulweria
Bulwer's Petrel, Bulweria bulwerii
Bulwer's Petrel, Bulweria bulwerii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Bulweria
Bonaparte, 1843
Species

Bulweria bulwerii
Bulweria fallax

Bulweria is a genus of seabirds in the family Procellariidae. The genus has two living species, Bulwer's Petrel (B. bulwerii) and Jouanin's Petrel (B. fallax). A third species, the Small St Helena Petrel, (Bulweria bifax) beame extinct in the early 16th century; it is known only from skeletal remains.

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 (Bretagnolle et al., 1998).

[edit] References

  • Bretagnolle, Vincent; Attié, Carole & Pasquet, Eric (1998): Cytochrome-B evidence for validity and phylogenetic relationships of Pseudobulweria and Bulweria (Procellariidae). Auk 115(1): 188-195 PDf fulltext