The Lava Shearwater (Puffinus olsoni), or Olson's Shearwater, was a species of shearwater that bred on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. It is known from fossil remains, and was only described in 1990. It was intermediate in size between the Manx Shearwater and the Little Shearwater. The remains of the species are particularly common in lava fields.
The species is thought to have survived the arrival of the first settlers in the Canary Islands, and become extinct after the arrival of European settlers in the 15th century. It is suspected that the species went extinct due to hunting pressures and possibly the arrival of introduced species such as rats.
Famous quotes containing the word lava:
“We walk on molten lava on which the claw of a fly or the fall of a hair makes its impression, which being received, the mass hardens to flint and retains every impression forevermore.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)