Scarlett's shearwater (''Puffinus spelaeus'') () is an extinct species of

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

in the

petrel Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes. Description Petrels are a monophyletic group of marine seabirds, sharing a characteristic of a nostril arrangement that results in the name "tubenoses". Petrels enco ...

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Procellariidae The family (biology), family Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrels, the diving petrels, the prion (bird), prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order (biology), orde ...

. Its common name commemorates New Zealand

palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

Ron Scarlett, who recognised the bird's

subfossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains represented a distinct species. This bird was described from bones collected in 1991 from a cave near the Fox River in the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Subsequent discoveries of bones dating from 20,000 years ago to less than 600 years old reveal it was found only in the west and northwest of the South Island, in Northwest Nelson and Buller. Scarlett's shearwater was closely related to the fluttering shearwater ( ''P. gavia'') and Hutton's shearwater ( ''P. huttoni''), and

DNA evidence Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

from fossil bones show that all three had a common ancestor about 1 million years ago.Tennyson, A.J.D.; Shepherd, L.D. (2017). "DNA reveals the relationships of the extinct Scarlett's shearwater ''Puffinus spelaeus'' (Procellariiformes: Procellariidae)." ''Journal of Ornithology 158'': 379–384. It was smaller than its relatives, with an estimated weight of 250 g, and had the short wings characteristic of the fluttering shearwater. ''P. spelaeus'' is most likely to have been driven to extinction by a combination of exploitation by humans and predation by

kiore The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), or , is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asia ...

Polynesian rat The Polynesian rat, Pacific rat or little rat (''Rattus exulans''), or , is the third most widespread species of rat in the world behind the brown rat and black rat. Contrary to its vernacular name, the Polynesian rat originated in Southeast Asi ...

''Rattus exulans'', which was introduced by

Polynesians Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group comprising closely related ethnic groups native to Polynesia, which encompasses the islands within the Polynesian Triangle in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Sout ...

to New Zealand about 750 years ago.

References

External links

Scarlett's Shearwater. ''Puffinus spelaeus''.
by Paul Martinson. Artwork produced for the book ''Extinct Birds of New Zealand'', by Alan Tennyson, Te Papa Press, Wellington, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:shearwater, Scarlett's Scarlett's shearwater Extinct birds of New Zealand Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Fossil taxa described in 1994 Holocene extinctions Birds described in 1994