NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Elliot's Storm Petrel

Oceanites gracilis (D. G. Elliot, 1859)

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Open encyclopedia reference

Elliot's storm petrel (Oceanites gracilis) is a species of seabird in the storm petrel family Oceanitidae. The species is also known as the white-vented storm petrel. There are two subspecies, O. g. gracilis, which is found in the Humboldt Current off Peru and Chile, and O. g. galapagoensis, which is found in the waters around the Galápagos Islands. It is a sooty-black storm petrel with a white rump and a white band crossing the lower belly and extending up the midline of the belly. It has long legs which extend beyond the body in flight.

Wikipedia contributors, Elliot's storm petrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:24:34.179995+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name: Oceanites gracilis (D. G. Elliot, 1859)
Name authority: (D. G. Elliot, 1859)
Common name: Elliot's Storm Petrel
Rank: species
Accepted status: accepted
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Oceanitidae
Genus: Oceanites
Extinction status: Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
subphylumVertebrata
infraphylumGnathostomata
parvphylumOsteichthyes
megaclassTetrapoda
classAves
orderProcellariiformes
familyOceanitidae Forbes, 1882
genusOceanites Keyserling & J. H. Blasius, 1840
speciesOceanites gracilis (D. G. Elliot, 1859)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Oceanites. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Species	Classification	Source status
Pincoya Storm PetrelOceanites pincoyae P. Harrison, Sallaberry, Gaskin, K. Baird, Jaramillo, Metz, Pearman, O'Keeffe et al., 2013	OceanitidaeChordata	Accepted speciesRecorded extant
Wilson's Storm PetrelOceanites oceanicus (Kuhl, 1820)	OceanitidaeChordata	Accepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 7 records assigned to Oceanitidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Recorded name	Source status
Thalassidroma gracilis D. G. Elliot, 1859 D. G. Elliot, 1859	synonym

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

East Pacific

South America

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=174653 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:48C3D. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.