NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Atlantic Petrel
Pterodroma incerta (Schlegel, 1863)
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.
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Open encyclopedia reference
The Atlantic petrel (Pterodroma incerta) is a gadfly petrel endemic to the South Atlantic Ocean. It breeds in enormous colonies on Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island, and ranges at sea from Brazil to Namibia, with most records at sea being to the west of the breeding islands, and along the subtropical convergence. Adults are about 43 cm long, powerful, large, stocky, dark in color with white belly. Their head can appear to be grey in worn plumage. Brown undercoating of wings and tail. These petrels can live on average of 15 years of age.
Wikipedia contributors, Atlantic petrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:38:44.678667+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pterodroma incerta (Schlegel, 1863)
- Name authority
- (Schlegel, 1863)
- Common name
- Atlantic Petrel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Procellariiformes
- Family
- Procellariidae
- Genus
- Pterodroma
- 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
- familyProcellariidae Leach, 1820
- genusPterodroma Bonaparte, 1856
- speciesPterodroma incerta (Schlegel, 1863)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pterodroma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Chatham Islands PetrelPterodroma axillaris (Salvin, 1893) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Barau's PetrelPterodroma baraui (Jouanin, 1964) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bermuda PetrelPterodroma cahow (Nichols & Mowbray, 1916) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-necked PetrelPterodroma cervicalis (Salvin, 1891) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cook's PetrelPterodroma cookii (G. R. Gray, 1843) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Masatierra PetrelPterodroma defilippiana (Giglioli & Salvadori, 1869) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Desertas PetrelPterodroma deserta Mathews, 1934 | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Juan Fernandez PetrelPterodroma externa (Salvin, 1875) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Herald PetrelPterodroma heraldica (Salvin, 1888) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mottled PetrelPterodroma inexpectata (J. R. Forster, 1844) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gould's PetrelPterodroma leucoptera (Gould, 1844) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kermadec PetrelPterodroma neglecta (Schlegel, 1863) | ProcellariidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Procellaria incerta Schlegel, 1863 Schlegel, 1863 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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=174586 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.
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:4PWKN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.