Kerguelen Petrel

Taxobox
name = Kerguelen Petrel
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Procellariiformes
familia = Procellariidae
genus = "Lugensa"
genus_authority = Mathews, 1942
species = "L. brevirostris"
binomial = "Lugensa brevirostris"
binomial_authority = (Lesson, 1831)
synonyms = "Pterodroma brevirostris"
"Aphrodroma brevirsotris"

The Kerguelen Petrel, "Lugensa brevirostris", is a small (36 cm long) slate-grey seabird in the family Procellariidae. The species has been described as a "taxonomic oddball", being placed for a long time in "Pterodroma" (the gadfly petrels) before being split out in 1942 into its own genus "Lugensa" (or "Aphrodroma"). The genus was not widely accepted until 1985, though subsequent research has supported it. The position within the procellariids is still a matter of debate; when it was split away from the "Pterodroma" petrels it was suggested that it may be a fulmarine petrel, whereas a 1998 study placed the species close to the shearwaters and the genus "Bulweria". [Nunn, G & Stanley, S. (1998)" Body Size Effects and Rates of Cytochrome b Evolution in Tube-Nosed Seabirds" "Molecular Biology and Evolution" 15: 1360-1371]

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