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title: "Bannerman’s Shearwater of Japan’s Ogasawara Islands is deemed a full species, but is Endangered"
---

# Bannerman’s Shearwater of Japan’s Ogasawara Islands is deemed a full species, but is Endangered

[Kazuto Kawakami](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11) ([Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute](https://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/ffpri/en/), Ibaraki, Japan) and colleagues have published in the journal [*Ornithological Science*](http://www.bioone.org/loi/jorn) on the taxonomic status of the [globally Endangered](http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/bannermans-shearwater-puffinus-bannermani/text) Bannerman’s Shearwater *Puffinus bannermani*.

 The paper’s abstract follows:

 “*Puffinus lherminieri bannermani* is a small black-and-white shearwater, which is endemic to the Ogasawara Islands, Japan. The taxonomic position of this shearwater is contentious. It is treated as a subspecies of Audubon's Shearwater *P. lherminieri* or the Tropical Shearwater *P. bailloni* in some checklists, while it is as considered monotypic, as Bannerman's Shearwater *P. bannermani*, in others. We examined the mitochondrial cytochrome b region to determine the taxon's phylogenetic position. While on the one hand the results showed that it was not genetically related to either *P. lherminieri* or *P. bailloni*, but formed a clade with *P. myrtae, P. newelli*, and *P. auricularis*, on the other hand, *bannermani* has diverged substantially from the other three taxa in both genetic and morphological features. This shearwater was first described as Bannerman's Shearwater, and our results confirm that *P. lherminieri bannermani* should be split from Audubon's Shearwater, and the monotypic Bannerman's Shearwater is recommended to be restored as a distinct species.”

 ![](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Shearwaters/Bannermans-Shearwater-shrunk-Kazuto-Kawakami.jpg) 

 A Bannerman's Shearwater at its breeding site on Minami-iwoto Island, Ogasawara Islands, June 2017

 Photograph by [Kazuto Kawakami](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11)

 Click [here](https://www.google.co.za/search?tbm=isch&q=bannerman%27s+shearwater&chips=q:bannerman%27s+shearwater,online_chips:puffinus+bannermani&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr-_2L9ZbZAhVlBcAKHfzzDMgQ4lYIKSgF&biw=1460&bih=718&dpr=1.25#imgrc=_) to view more photographs of Bannerman's Shearwater.

 Wth thanis to [Kazuto Kawakami](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11).

 **Reference:**

 [Kawakami](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11), K., [Eda](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11) , M., [Izumi](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11), H., [Horikoshi](http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2326/osj.17.11), K. &  Suzuki, H. 2018. Phylogenetic position of Endangered *Puffinus lherminieri bannermani*. [*Ornithological Science* 17: 11-18](https://doi.org/10.2326/osj.17.11).

 *John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 February 2018*