Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrel, the prions, and the shearwaters. All species are accomplished long-distance foragers, and many undertake long trans-equatorial migrations. Many procellariids have breeding populations of over several million pairs; others number fewer than 200 birds.
About Procellariidae in brief
Procellariidae is a group of seabirds that comprises the fulmarine petrels, the gadfly petrel, the prions, and the shearwaters. This family is part of the bird order Procellariiformes, which also includes the albatrosses, the storm petRELs, and the divingPetrels. All species are accomplished long-distance foragers, and many undertake long trans-equatorial migrations. In all species, each pair lays a single egg per breeding season. Their incubation times and chick-rearing periods are exceptionally long compared to other birds. Many procellariids have breeding populations of over several million pairs; others number fewer than 200 birds. Humans have traditionally exploited several species of fulmar and shearwater for food, fuel, and bait, a practice that continues in a controlled fashion today. Several species are threatened by introduced species attacking adults and chicks in breeding colonies and by long-line fisheries. The family was introduced by the English zoologist William Elford Leach in a guide to the contents of the British Museum published in 1820. According to the famous DNA hybridization study into avian phylogenetic relationships by Sibley and Ahlquist, the split of the Procellarianiformes into the four families occurred around 30 million years ago. The molecular evidence suggests that the stormpetrels were the first to diverge from the ancestral stock, with the pro cellariids and diving pet Rels splitting most recently.
However, modern procellarid genera began to appear possibly just as early as the proposed splitting of the family, with a Rupelian fossil from Belgium tentatively attributed to theShearwater genus Puffinus. Most modern genera were established by the Miocene. A 1998 study Gary Nunn and Scott Stanley showed that the ful marine petrelS were indeed a discrete group within the genus Pterodroma. Two genera, Pseudobulweria and Lugensa, have been split from the gadflies, with Pseudolweria being closer to the prion. The prions are the most closely related to the fulmars, according to the Nunn-Stanley study. Two species, Aphrodroma and Aphrodroma, are no longer considered close to the gad Flyers. The fulmarine Petrels are the only species in the genus Bulweria, instead being moved to the genus Procellaria and possibly being closely related to the Shearwaters or the fulmarwaters. The shear Waters are the closest relatives of the gad flyers, and have been moved closer to them in the genera Aphrodrome and Aphrodisia. The Procellaridae is the most numerous family of tubenoses and the most diverse. They range in size from the giant petreled, which are almost as large as the albats, to the small prions. They feed on fish, squid and crustacea.
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This page is based on the article Procellariidae published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
