Least Storm Petrel

Open encyclopedia reference

The least storm petrel (Hydrobates microsoma) is a small seabird of the storm petrel family Hydrobatidae. It is 13–15 cm in length, with a wingspan of 32 cm. It is the smallest member of the order Procellariiformes. It was formerly defined in the genus Oceanodroma before that genus was synonymized with Hydrobates. It breeds on islands off the Baja Peninsula and Gulf of California of Mexico in rock crevices or small burrows in soft earth and lays a single white egg.The single egg that this bird lays is white with a wreath of fine black specks around one and sometimes both ends. Like most petrels, its walking ability is limited to a short shuffle to the burrow. It is a colonial nester. It spends the rest of the year at sea, reaching as far south as the tropical Pacific South America. It frequently can be seen well offshore of southern California in late summer and autumn. It feeds on mainly planktonic crustaceans, with a preference of larvae of spiny lobsters.

Wikipedia contributors, Least storm petrel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:13:02.852724+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Hydrobates microsoma (Coues, 1864)

Name authority

(Coues, 1864)

Common name

Least Storm Petrel

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Aves

Order

Procellariiformes

Family

Hydrobatidae

Genus

Hydrobates

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. familyHydrobatidae Mathews, 1912
11. genusHydrobates F. Boie, 1822
12. speciesHydrobates microsoma (Coues, 1864)

Close classified relatives

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

Browse 15 records assigned to Hydrobatidae.

Names & synonyms

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

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. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=1255042 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:DD8T5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.