Lava Shearwater

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Lava Shearwater
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Procellariidae Genus: Puffinus Species: P. olsoni
Binomial name
Puffinus olsoni McMinn, Jaume & Alcover, 1990

The Lava Shearwater, Puffinus olsoni, was a species of shearwater that formerly bred on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. The species is known only from fossil remains, and was only described by science in 1990. The species was intermediate in size between the Manx Shearwater and the Little Shearwater. The remains of the species are particularly common in lava fields.

The species is thought to have survived the arrival of the first settlers in the Canary Islands, and become extinct after the arrival of European settlers in the 15th century. It is suspected that the species went extinct due to hunting pressures and possibly the arrival of introduced species such as rats.

[edit] References

• J. C. Rando, J. A. Alcover (2008) "Evidence for a second western Palaearctic seabird extinction during the last Millennium: the Lava Shearwater Puffinus olsoni" Ibis 150 (1) , 188–192 doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00741.x