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1 August 2012 Bryan's Shearwaters Have Survived on the Bonin Islands, Northwestern Pacific
Kazuto Kawakami, Masaki Eda, Kazuo Horikoshi, Hajime Suzuki, Hayato Chiba, Takashi Hiraoka
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Abstract

Bryan's Shearwater (Puffinus bryani) was described in 2011 on the basis of a specimen collected on the Midway Atoll in 1963. This specimen and another recorded on Midway in the early 1990s are the sole reliable records to date. Since 1997, we have found six specimens of a remarkably small Puffinus shearwater morphologically similar to Bryan's Shearwater on the Bonin Islands, northwestern Pacific. In this study, we examined the Bonin samples genetically and confirm that they are of Bryan's Shearwater. A morphological analysis suggests that the small body size and relatively long tail are characteristics of this species. Because the most recent individual was found on an islet to the north of Chichijima Island in 2011, the species has evidently survived in the Bonin Islands, where it may breed, although the exact location remains unclear. Three of the individuals found on an islet off Chichijima Island were carcasses preyed upon by black rats (Rattus rattus). Attempts were made to eradicate rats from this island in 2008, and rats may pose a problem on other islands where the shearwaters may breed. Regardless, Bryan's Shearwater appears to be very rare and threatened on the Bonin Islands. To conserve this species effectively, its breeding sites must be identified and the infesting rats eradicated.

© 2012 by The Cooper Ornithological Society. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp.
Kazuto Kawakami, Masaki Eda, Kazuo Horikoshi, Hajime Suzuki, Hayato Chiba, and Takashi Hiraoka "Bryan's Shearwaters Have Survived on the Bonin Islands, Northwestern Pacific," The Condor 114(3), 507-512, (1 August 2012). https://doi.org/10.1525/cond.2012.110196
Received: 5 December 2011; Accepted: 10 March 2012; Published: 1 August 2012
KEYWORDS
Bonin Islands
Bryan's Shearwater
distribution
genetic
morphology
Puffinus bryani
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