NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Zino's Petrel
Pterodroma madeira Mathews, 1934
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
Zino's petrel (Pterodroma madeira) or the freira, is a species of small seabird in the gadfly petrel genus, endemic to the island of Madeira. This long-winged petrel has a grey back and wings, with a dark "W" marking across the wings, and a grey upper tail. The undersides of the wings are blackish apart from a triangle of white at the front edge near the body, and the belly is white with grey flanks. It is very similar in appearance to the slightly larger Fea's petrel, and separating these two Macaronesian species at sea is very challenging. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the soft-plumaged petrel, P. mollis, but they are not closely related, and Zino's was raised to the status of a species because of differences in morphology, calls, breeding behaviour and mitochondrial DNA. It is one of Europe's most endangered seabirds, with breeding areas restricted to a few ledges high in the central mountains of Madeira. Zino's petrel nests in burrows which are visited only at night, when they give their haunting calls.
Wikipedia contributors, Zino's petrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:31:11.926029+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pterodroma madeira Mathews, 1934
- Name authority
- Mathews, 1934
- Common name
- Zino's 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 madeira Mathews, 1934
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 |
|---|---|
| Pterodroma mollis madeira Mathews, 1934 Mathews, 1934 | 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=562558 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:6WKJS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.