Saint Helena Shearwater

• St. Helena

The St. Helena shearwater ( Puffinus pacificoides ) is an extinct marine bird of the genus shearwaters ( Puffinus ). He brooded on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena. The specific epithet pacificoides refers to its relationship to the recent wedge-tailed shearwater ( Puffinus pacificus ).

Features

The holotype is an almost complete left femur, which was established in 1971 sponsored by Storrs Lovejoy Olson Aeolian limestone near Sugarloaf Hill on St. Helena to days. He has an overall length of 32.2 mm. Its coloration is white with dark shaft drawings. In the early 1960s, Philip Ashmole had seven fragments of leg members a blank Sturmtaucherart collected, which were later assigned to this type. The material designated as paratypes includes thigh bone and fragments of Tibiotarsi, Tarsometatarsi, humerus, Ellen, Carpometacarpi, raven bones, beak bones, lower jaw and toe bones. A total of 73 bone are known. The St. Helena Shearwater was a medium-sized bird of the species group of the gray coat shearwater ( Puffinus bulleri ). He was taller and more robust than the wedge-tailed shearwater.

Extinction

The Saint Helena shearwaters died about 14,000 years ago in a natural way due to the rapid rise in sea level 135-80 m below the present sea level in the Late Pleistocene from. The water temperature was probably about 2 ° C below the maximum in the Holocene. Also, coming from the southeast trade winds were stronger than today.