Barolo Shearwater - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

It was previously considered conspecific with the Little Shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) of the Southern Hemisphere. mtDNA cytochrome b sequence analysis (Austin et al., 2004) indicates, however, that baroli and boydi are very close to the nominate subspecies of Audubon's Shearwater. Whether the morphological distinctness and the non-overlapping ranges, or the genetic similarity are considered to be more significant is presently a matter of opinion, and the taxonomic status of these birds remains equivocal. Although some institutions (such as BirdLife International) retain the forms baroli and boydi within Little Shearwater, this is as a result of inaccurate lumping in the past, and is not supported by modern evidence. The BOU has accepted P. baroli as a distinct species (Sangster et al. 2005), as has the Clements checklist.