Puffinus olsoni McMinn, Jaume & Alcover, 1990:65

Lava shearwater, Olson's shearwater

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Conservation Status

Extinct (Fernández-Palacios et al., 2025)

Last record: 1265 ± 25 years BP; 1270-1475 CE (Fernández-Palacios et al., 2025)

Distribution & Habitat

Fuerteventura, Lanzarote & Lobos Islet, Canary Islands

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

McMinn, M., Jaume, D. and Alcover, J. A. (1990).  Puffinus olsoni n. sp.: nova espècie de baldritja recentment extinguida provinent de depòsits espeleològics de Fuerteventura i Lanzarote (Illes Canàries, Atlàntic Oriental). Endins 16: 63-71.

Other references:

Alcover, J. A. and McMinn, M. (1995). Fossil birds from the Canary Islands. Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg 181: 207-213.

Faurby, Søren, Matthews, Tom J., Triantis, Kostas A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2026). Quantifying the unrecorded loss of avian phylogenetic diversity. Ecography 2026: e08267. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecog.08267

Fernández-Palacios, José María, Fructuoso, Melania, Illera, Juan Carlos, Rando, Juan Carlos, de Nascimento, Lea, Fernández-Palacios, Enrique, Patiño, Jairo, Otto, Rüdiger, Castilla-Beltrán, Álvaro, González, Esther Martín, Orihuela-Rivero, Raúl, Alcover, Josep Antoni, Whittaker, Robert J. (2025). A synthesis of terrestrial species extinctions in the Macaronesian Islands and their correspondence with human occupancy. PNAS Nexus 4(8): pgaf215. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf215 [Supplementary data (.docx)]

Hume, Julian Pender and Walters, Michael. (2012). Extinct Birds. London: T & AD Poyser. 544 pp.

Matthews, Thomas J., Triantis, Kostas A., Wayman, Joseph P., Martin, Thomas E., Hume, Julian P., Cardoso, Pedro, Faurby, Søren, Mendenhall, Chase D., Dufour, Paul, Rigal, François, Cooke, Rob, Whittaker, Robert J., Pigot, Alex L., Thébaud, Christophe, Jørgensen, Maria Wagner, Benavides, Eva, Soares, Filipa C., Ulrich, Werner, Kubota, Yasuhiro, Sadler, Jon P., Tobias, Joseph A. and Sayol, Ferran. (2024). The global loss of avian functional and phylogenetic diversity from anthropogenic extinctions. Science 386(6717): 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adk7898 [Supplementary Materials; Dryad dataset; Zenodo codeset]

Matthews, Thomas J., Wayman, Joseph P., Cardoso, Pedro, Sayol, Ferran, Hume, Julian P., Ulrich, Werner, Tobias, Joseph A., Soares, Filipa C., Thébaud, Christophe, Martin, Thomas E. and Triantis, Kostas A. (2022). Threatened and extinct island endemic birds of the world: Distribution, threats and functional diversity. Journal of Biogeography 49(11): 1920-1940. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14474 [Appendix S1 (.docx); Appendix S2 (.pdf)]

Ramirez O, Illera JC, Rando JC, Gonzalez-Solis J, Alcover JA, Lalueza-Fox C. (2010). Ancient DNA of the Extinct Lava Shearwater (Puffinus olsoni) from the Canary Islands Reveals Incipient Differentiation within the P. puffinus Complex. PLoS ONE 5(12): e16072.

Rando JC and Alcover JA (2007) Evidence for a second western Palaearctic seabird extinction during the last Millennium: the lava shearwater Puffinus olsoni. Ibis 150, 188–192.

Rando, J. C. and Perera, M. A. (1994). Primeros datos de ornitofagia entre los aborígenes de Fuerteventura (Islas Canarias). Archaeofauna 3: 13-19.

Rando, J. C. and Alcover, J. A. (2008). Evidence for a second western Palaearctic seabird extinction during the last Millennium: the Lava Shearwater Puffinus olsoni. Ibis 150: 188-192.

Sánchez Marco, A. (2010). New data and an overview of the past avifaunas from the Canary Islands. Ardeola 57(1): 13-40.

Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M.,  Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]

https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7831/puffinus-olsoni-olsons-shearwater

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