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A hybrid gadfly petrel suggests that soft-plumaged petrels (Pterodroma mollis) had colonised the Antipodes Islands by the 1920s

  • Publication Type

    Journal

  • Publication Year

    2013

  • Author(s)

    A.J.D. Tennyson; H.A. Lawrence; G.A. Taylor; M.J. Imber

  • Journal Name

    Notornis

  • Volume, Issue

    60, 4

  • Pagination

    290-295

  • Article Type

    Paper

Keywords

Antipodes Islands; hybrid; mitochondrial DNA; Pterodroma mollis; soft-plumaged petrel


A hybrid gadfly petrel suggests that soft-plumaged petrels (Pterodroma mollis) had colonised the Antipodes Islands by the 1920s

Notornis, 60 (4), 290-295

A.J.D. Tennyson; H.A. Lawrence; G.A. Taylor; M.J. Imber (2013)

Article Type: Paper

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A unique Pterodroma petrel shot at sea near the Antipodes Islands in 1926 has features intermediate between white-headed petrel (Pterodroma lessonii) and soft-plumaged petrel (Pt. mollis). Its mitochondrial DNA indicates that its mother was a Pt. mollis and we conclude that it is a hybrid. We theorise that Pt. mollis had begun colonising Antipodes Island by the 1920s and some pairing with the locally abundant congeneric Pt. lessonii occurred. Hybridisation in Procellariiformes is rare worldwide but several cases have now been reported from the New Zealand region.