St. Helena giant petrel
| St. Helena giant petrel | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Pterodroma rupinarum | ||||||||||
| Olson , 1975 |
The St. Helena giant petrel ( Pterodroma rupinarum ) is an extinct petrel species from the genus of the hook shearwater ( Pterodroma ), which was endemic to St. Helena . It is only known from subfossil bone material.
features
The holotype was discovered in June 1971 by Storrs Lovejoy Olson in the deposits of Prosperous Bay on St. Helena. It consists of an almost complete skull , including the rostrum , the lower jaw and the os quadratum but without the palatine bone and the proximal half of the right side of the lower jaw. The paratypes include almost all elements of the skeletons of several individuals. The total length of the skull with beak is 72.1 mm, the postorbtital width 29.4 mm, the length of the rostrum from the front of the nostrils 20.7 mm, the length of the lower jaw 58.8 mm and the height of the os quadratum 11.2 mm. The bones are light yellowish tan and not mineralized. The size and texture of the material suggests that the St Helena giant petrel was a medium-sized species with a heavy, downward-angled beak.
The St. Helena giant petrel was smaller than the Tahitian petrel ( Pseudobulweria rostrata ), but somewhat larger and more long-winged than the mascarene petrel ( Pseudobulweria aterrima ) or the Solomon petroleum ( Pseudobulweria becki ) and with relatively shorter legs.
die out
The St. Helena giant petrel died out shortly after St. Helena was discovered in 1502. Possible causes of extinction were the overhunting by the first settlers for food requirements as well as the stalking by introduced animals such as mice and rats.
Systematics
In the past, it was assumed to be related to the Tahitian petrel , which used to belong to the hook shearwater genus and is now classified (although not by all systematists, including James Clements ) in the independent genus Pseudobulweria . Some authors, including Samuel T. Turvey from the Zoological Society of London or Vincent Bretagnolle from the Center d'Etudes Biologique in Chizé have therefore proposed that the St. Helena giant petrel should also be placed in the genus Pseudobulweria . The International Ornithological Congress followed this proposal in 2012. In a study from 2014, Storrs Olson, Andreanna Welch and Robert C. Fleischer demonstrated that the St. Helena giant petrel is a sister taxon to the Bermuda petrel ( Pterodroma cahow ) in Cape Verde - Petrel ( Pterodroma feae ) and other Atlantic petrels and therefore support a return transfer to the genus Pterodroma .
literature
- Storrs L. Olson (1975): Paleornithology of St. Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean. In: Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology No. 23
Web links
- Pterodroma rupinarum inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016.3. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2016. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
Individual evidence
- ^ Samuel T. Turvey (ed.) (2009) Holocene Extinctions . Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-953509-5 : p. 152
- ↑ 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 file (548.36 KB)
- ↑ RC Fleischer, Storrs L. Olson and AJ Welch: Phylogenetic relationships of the extinct St Helena petrel, Pterodroma rupinarum Olson, 1975 (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae), based on ancient DNA. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 170 (3), 2014, 494-505