North Pacific albatross

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North Pacific albatross
Waved Albatrosses on Española Island, Galapagos.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Procellariiformes Family: Diomedeidae Genus: Phoebastria Reichenbach, 1853
Species
P. immutabilis P. nigripes P. irrorata P. albatrus
Synonyms
Diomedea (sensu Coues, 1866) Julietata Mathews & Hallstrom, 1943

The North Pacific albatrosses are large seabirds from the genus Phoebastria in the albatross family. They are the most tropical of the albatrosses, with two species ( the Laysan Albatross and Black-footed Albatross) nesting in North Western Hawaiian island chain, one on sub-tropical islands south of Japan (the Short-tailed Albatross), and one nesting on the equator (the Waved Albatross).

Their taxonomy is very confusing, as with all albatrosses. It is widely accepted nowadays, based on molecular evidence (e.g. Nunn et al., 1996) and the fossil record, that they are a distinct genus from Diomedea in which formerly most "white" albatrosses were placed but which is now restricted to the "Great" albatrosses.

Genus Phoebastria - North Pacific albatrosses

• Laysan Albatross P. immutabilis
• Black-footed Albatross P. nigripes
• Waved Albatross P. irrorata
• Short-tailed Albatross P. albatrus

This genus and Diomedea had already diverged in the Middle Miocene (12-15 mya). Several fossil forms are known, which incidentally prove that Phoebastria was formerly distributed in the North Atlantic also. The current distribution is thus a relict. The oldest known species, P. californica, was at least the size of the Short-tailed Albatross and may have been an ancestor of this bird.

Fossil species

• Phoebastria californica (Temblor Middle Miocene of Sharktooth Hill, USA)
• Phoebastria anglica (Middle Pliocene - Early Pleistocene of NC Atlantic coasts)
• Phoebastria cf. albatrus (San Diego Late Pliocene of San Diego County, USA) - formerly Diomedea howardae
• Phoebastria rexsularum
• Phoebastria cf. immutabilis (San Pedro Pleistocene of San Pedro, USA)
• Phoebastria cf. nigripes (San Pedro Pleistocene of San Pedro, USA)

[edit] References

• Brooke, Michael (2004): Albatrosses and Petrels across the World. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. ISBN 0-19-850125-0

• Nunn, Gary B.; Cooper, John; Jouventin, Pierre; Robertson, Chris J. R. & Robertson Graham G. (1996): Evolutionary relationships among extant albatrosses (Procellariiformes: Diomedeidae) established from complete cytochrome-b gene sequences. Auk 113(4): 784-801. PDF fulltext

• Tickell, W. L. N. (2000): Albatrosses. Pica Press, Sussex. ISBN 1-873403-94-1