Persian Shearwater

SCI Name:  Puffinus persicus
Protonym:  Puffinus Persicus Str.Feath. 1 p.5
Taxonomy:  Procellariiformes / Procellariidae / Puffinus
Taxonomy Code:  pershe1
Type Locality:  at sea between Guadar and Muscat.
Author:  Hume
Publish Year:  1872
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PUFFINUS
(Procellariidae; Ϯ Manx Shearwater P. puffinus)  English names Puffing (c. 1502) or Puffin (c. 1508), originally applied to the cured carcass of the fat nestling shearwater, a delicacy until the end of the 18th century (cf. Med. L. paphinus puffin; Late Med. L. puphinus puffin or shearwater). By confusion and association the name was gradually also applied to the Atlantic Puffin, becoming fixed on that species during the second half of the 19th century, but retained in ornithology as a generic name for the shearwaters (see Lockwood 1984, 121-122); "Genre du Puffin.  Genus Puffini" (Brisson 1760): based on "Puffinus" of Jonston 1650-1653, and Sibbald 1684, “Puffin of the Isle of Man” of Willughby 1676, and "Shear-Water" of Ray 1713; "Puffinus Brisson, Orn., 1, 1760, p. 56; 6, p. 130. Type, by tautonymy, Puffinus [puffinus] Brisson = Procellaria puffinus Brünnich." (Peters 1931, 1, 53).
Var. Pufflnus.
Synon. Alphapuffinus, Cinathisma, Cymotomus, Microzalias, Nectris, Reinholdia, Rhipornis, Thyellas, Zalias.
● (syn. Fratercula Ϯ Atlantic Puffin F. arctica)  "Puffin, (Puffinus, Will.)   Common Puffin    Puffinus flavirostris, (W.)" (C. T. Wood 1836).

puffinus
English name Puffin (c. 1508), applied to the cured carcass of the nestling shearwater; ex “Skrabe” of Debes 1676, “Puffin of the Isle of Man” of Willughby 1676, and Puffinus Brisson 1760 (Puffinus).

persicus
L. Persicus  Persian  < Persia  Persia / Iran.
● Not a toponym, but an allusion to the gaudy plumage of the Yellow-rumped Cacique; ex “Jupujuba” of Marcgrave 1648, and “Cassique jaune” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Cacicus cela).
● Erroneous TL. Persia (= Perthshire, Scotland) (syn. Lagopus lagopus scotica).
● Southern (i.e. Persian) shores of the Caspian Sea (Merops).
● At sea between Guadar (= Qatar) and Muscat (i.e. in the Persian Gulf) (Puffinus).
● ex “Persian Woodpecker” of Willughby 1676, and Latham 1782, “Picus luteus cyanopus persicus” of Ray 1713, and “Picus luteus persicus” of Brisson 1760 (unident.).
● ex “Persian Thrush” of Latham 1787 (unident.).

SUBSPECIES

Persian Shearwater (persicus)
SCI Name: Puffinus persicus persicus
persicus
L. Persicus  Persian  < Persia  Persia / Iran.
● Not a toponym, but an allusion to the gaudy plumage of the Yellow-rumped Cacique; ex “Jupujuba” of Marcgrave 1648, and “Cassique jaune” of Brisson 1760 (syn. Cacicus cela).
● Erroneous TL. Persia (= Perthshire, Scotland) (syn. Lagopus lagopus scotica).
● Southern (i.e. Persian) shores of the Caspian Sea (Merops).
● At sea between Guadar (= Qatar) and Muscat (i.e. in the Persian Gulf) (Puffinus).
● ex “Persian Woodpecker” of Willughby 1676, and Latham 1782, “Picus luteus cyanopus persicus” of Ray 1713, and “Picus luteus persicus” of Brisson 1760 (unident.).
● ex “Persian Thrush” of Latham 1787 (unident.).

Persian Shearwater (temptator)
SCI Name: Puffinus persicus temptator
temptator
L. temptator, temptatoris  tempter, seductor  < temptare  to test  < tendere  to attempt.
● “From near Chalet St Antoine II, Moheli, Comoros ... It is said that St Anthony was subject to many temptations” (Louette & Herremans 1985) (subsp. Puffinus persicus).