Puffinus

Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes. It is made up of about 20 small to medium-sized shearwaters. Two other shearwater genera are named: Calonectris, which comprises three large shearwaters, and Procellaria with another four large species. The latter are usually called 'petrels', although they are thought to be more closely related to the shearwaters than to the other petrels. Even though their name looks like puffin, the puffins are auks, and not related to the shearwaters in the genus Puffinus; the genus name Puffinus is actually a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin".

Puffinus
Puffinus gavia - SE Tasmania.jpg
Fluttering shearwater, Puffinus gavia
Scientific classification e
Unrecognized taxon (fix): Puffinus
Type species
Puffinus puffinus
Brünnich, 1764
Species

See text

Synonyms

Taxonomy

Genus Puffinus