The Rapa shearwater (Puffinus myrtae ), is a rare seabird of the tropics from the family Procellariidae. It breeds on the surrounding islets of Rapa in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia where it is known locally as the kaki kaki.
The Rapa shearwater was first described in 1959 as a subspecies of the little shearwater. The holotype was later found to be a juvenile and an adult specimen was described in 2017.
A 2015 genetic study using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, found that the Rapa shearwater is sister to a clade containing the Hawaiian shearwater (Puffinus newelli ) and the little shearwater (Puffinus assimilis ). Morphological data supports this relationship but the Rapa shearwater is much smaller than the other two species.
Not much is known about its decline. It most likely once occurred on Rapa itself, though this population has been extirpated by the polynesian rat, feral goats, and feral cats.
A piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
Te
TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Co
CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Soaring birds can maintain flight without wing flapping, using rising air currents. Many gliding birds are able to "lock" their extended wings by m...
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, b...
So
SocialMi
MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
R
starts with
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...