Sargasso Shearwater

Open encyclopedia reference

The Sargasso shearwater (Puffinus lherminieri) is a small tropical seabird in the petrel family. The only shearwater to nest primarily in the Caribbean, it ranges throughout the western Atlantic during the non-breeding season. Its specific epithet honours the French naturalist Félix Louis L'Herminier.

This bird is part of a species complex formerly known as Audubon's shearwater, or occasionally as dusky-backed shearwater. Most authors now separate this complex into a range of species including the Sargasso shearwater, tropical shearwater, Boyd's shearwater, Barolo shearwater, Bannerman's shearwater, and Persian shearwater. These small seabirds form a cryptic species complex which ornithologists have only recently begun to disentangle.

Wikipedia contributors, Sargasso shearwater; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:38:54.576210+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Puffinus lherminieri R. P. Lesson, 1839

Name authority

R. P. Lesson, 1839

Common name

Sargasso Shearwater

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Procellariidae

Genus

Puffinus

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classAves
9. orderProcellariiformes
10. familyProcellariidae Leach, 1820
11. genusPuffinus Brisson, 1760
12. speciesPuffinus lherminieri R. P. Lesson, 1839

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 79 records assigned to Procellariidae.

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.

1. Lesson, & René Primevère. (1839). Quelques oiseaux nouveaux de la collection de M. Charles Brelay, à Bordeaux , par F. de la Fresnaye. Revue Zoologique, Par La Société Cuvierienne, Vol. 2. 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:4QFXV. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.