Tahiti Petrel

SCI Name:  Pseudobulweria rostrata
Protonym:  Procellaria rostrata U.S.Expl.Exped. 8 p.296
Taxonomy:  Procellariiformes / Procellariidae / Pseudobulweria
Taxonomy Code:  tahpet1
Type Locality:  Mountains about 6000 feet on Tahiti, Society Islands.
Author:  Peale
Publish Year:  1848
IUCN Status:  Near Threatened

DEFINITIONS

PSEUDOBULWERIA
(Procellariidae; Ϯ MacGillivray's Petrel P. macgillivrayi) Gr. ψευδος pseudos  false; genus Bulweria Bonaparte, 1843, petrel; "It is perhaps unfortunate that this bird was placed in the genus Bulweria, as its significance has thereby been lost.  ...  The tail of macgillivrayi is shorter than the tail of Bulweria, although the bird is larger. In the former the first primary is shorter than the second, while in Bulweria the first primary is the longest. The difference can be considered of generic importance, so I introduce PSEUDOBULWERIA, gen. nov.; type, T. MACGILLIVRAYI Gray.  In Bulweria the wing measurement is less than twice the tail measurement; in Pseudobulweria the wing measurement is more than twice that of the tail" (Mathews 1936).

rostrata
L. rostratus  beaked, large-billed  < rostrum  beak.
● “The native who carried it finding its bite too severe to be often repeated, submitted the poor creature to a most cruel remedy, often practised by the island bird-catchers, which was to thrust the sharp point of the upper mandible through the lower, thus yoking it with its own jaw; in this state it was kept until the party reached the coast” (Peale 1848) (Pseudobulweria).

SUBSPECIES

Tahiti Petrel (rostrata)
SCI Name: Pseudobulweria rostrata rostrata
rostrata
L. rostratus  beaked, large-billed  < rostrum  beak.
● “The native who carried it finding its bite too severe to be often repeated, submitted the poor creature to a most cruel remedy, often practised by the island bird-catchers, which was to thrust the sharp point of the upper mandible through the lower, thus yoking it with its own jaw; in this state it was kept until the party reached the coast” (Peale 1848) (Pseudobulweria).

Tahiti Petrel (trouessarti)
SCI Name: Pseudobulweria rostrata trouessarti
trouessarti
Prof. Dr Édouard Louis Trouessart (1842-1927) French zoologist (subsp. Pseudobulweria rostrata).