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title: "The Scientific name of the Northern Buller’s Albatross is confirmed as correct"
---

# The Scientific name of the Northern Buller’s Albatross is confirmed as correct

*![Bullers Albatrosses Rosemary Rock Kevin Parker](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/B/Bullers/Bullers_Albatrosses_Rosemary_Rock_Kevin_Parker.webp)Northern Buller’s Albatrosses on Rosemary Rock, photograph by Kevin Parker*

 Manuel Schweizer ([Naturhistorisches Museum Bern](https://www.nmbe.ch/en), Switzerland) and colleagues have published  in the ornithological journal [*Notornis*](https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/society-publications/notornis/)on the correct scientific name of the Northern Buller’s Albatross *Thalassarche bulleri platei.*

 *![Northern Bullers Albatross juvenile holotype](https://acap.aq/images/stories/acap/Birds/Albatrosses/B/Bullers/Northern_Bullers_Albatross_juvenile_holotype.png)  
The holotype of*Thalassarche bulleri platei*at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (from the publication)*

 The paper’s abstract follows:

 “Buller’s albatross *Thalassarche bulleri* is generally considered to comprise two subspecies: *T. b. bulleri*, which breeds on islands south of the South Island, New Zealand; and *T. b. platei,*which nests on the Three Kings Islands, off the northern tip of of the North Island, and on outlying islets of the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand.  Although the name*platei* has been widely applied to the latter population, some authors have suggested that its type specimen is in fact a juvenile *T. b. bulleri*. As a result, those birds breeding in the Chatham and Three Kings groups have sometimes been considered to represent an unnamed subspecies, or even species, given recent evidence of their genetic differentiation.

 Because our own morphological examination of the specimen was inconclusive as to which population the type of *platei*belongs, we subjected the individual to molecular testing.  From this, we can confirm that the name *platei*has been correctly applied to the northern population of Buller’s albatross.

 **Reference:**

 Schweizer, M., Frahnert, S., Shepherd, L., Miskelly, C., Tennyson, A., Bretagnolle, V., Shirihai, H. & Kirwan G. 2024.  Genetic data confirm that *Diomedea platei*Reichenow, 1898, is the correct name for the population of Buller’s albatross *Thalassarche bulleri*breeding at the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.  [*Notornis* 71: 165-175](https://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/SM-2024-1.pdf).