Procellariidae

Albatrosses: Diomedeidae


Mollymawks

Genus Thalassarche

Ten species listed here.

  • Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos, Tristan da Cunha archipelago.
  • Indian Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche carteri, Pr. Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Amsterdam, St Paul Is.
  • Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma, South America, South Georgia, Pr. Edward, Crozet, Kerguelen, Maquarie, Campbell Is.
  • Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris, Falklands, South Georgia, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard, Maquarie, Snares, Antipodes and Campbell Is.
  • Campbell Albatross Thalassarche impavida, only Campbell Island.
  • Buller's Albatross Thalassarche bulleri, two subspecies:
  •   Buller's Albatross Thalassarche b. bulleri, Chatham and Three Kings Is.
  •   Pacific Albatross Thalassarche b. platei, Snares and Solander Is.
  • Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, two subspecies:
  •   Tasmanian Shy Albatross Thalassarche c. cauta, Tasmania.
  •   New Zealand White-capped or Auckland Shy Albatross Thalassarche c. staedi, Auckland, Chatham and Antipodes Is.
  • Chatham Albatross
    • Thalassarche eremita, Chatham Is.
  • Salvin's Albatross Thalassarche salvini, Bounty, Snares and Crozet Is.

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    Evolution and taxonomy

    Distribution
    All Mollymawks are Southern Hemisphere breeders and some species wander around the globe, such as Black-browed, Grey-headed and possibly Shy and Salvin's. Other, such as the Atlantic and Indian Yellow-nosed have a more resticted, but still vast area, in the respective oceans. Both Buller's are confined to the southern Pacific and the Campbell remains in the New Zealand and Australian waters.
    Behaviour
    The Thalassarche species are 'small' abatrosses (3-5 kg). Like the Great Albatrosses the smaller Mollymawksare  perfectly adapted to a gliding flight and dynamic soaring. Nevertheless they are better equipped for a flapping flight, which is expressed by the proportional weight of the flight musculature (ca 9%), smaller wing loading and lower aspect ratio (ca 13.8). Feeding is mainly done by surface picking but Black-browed and Grey-headed have been observed diving to about 6.5 m (Prince et al. 1994; Huin & Prince 1997). Walking and standing is relatively well developed as in the other albatrosses.

    Osteology
    Grey-headed Albatross Thalassarche chrysostoma. Culmen 115.8 mm, Total:193.1 mm
    Unsexed adult, Location unknown. Courtesey of G. v.d. Brink
    Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophris. Culmen: 121.3 mm, Total: 192.5 mm
    Unsecxed adult. Falkland Islands. Courtesey of Joost Pompert, Falkland Is Fisheries Dept.
    New Zealand White-capped Albatross Thalassarche c. staedi. Culmen ca 125 mm, Total: 202 mm
    Unsexed adult, Cable Bay, NZ

    Sooty Albatrosses

    Genus Phoebetria

    Two species:

  • Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca, Tristan da Cunha archipelago, Pr. Edward, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen, Amsterdam and St. Paul Is.
  • Light-mantled Sooty Albatross Phoebetria palbebrata, South Georgia, Pr, Edward, Marion, Crozet, Kerguelen, Heard,  Mc Donald, Maquarie Is. and some Islands in the New Zealand area.

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    From Murphy 1936
    Sooty albatross Phoebetria fusca. Culmen 107.0 mm, total 180.4 mm.
    Unsexed adult. Location unknown. Courtesey of G. v. Brink

     

    Evolution and taxonomy

    Distribution
    Both Sooty Albatrosses are from the Southern Hemisphere. The all dark fusca is mainly found in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. Palbebrata has a circumpolar distribution.

    Behaviour
    The Phoebetria species are 'small' abatrosses (3-5 kg). Like all other albatrosses the Sooties are perfectly adapted to a gliding flight and dynamic soaring. Nevertheless they are better equipped for a flapping flight, which is expressed by the proportional weight of the flight musculature (ca 9%), smaller wing loading and lower aspect ratio (ca 13.8). Sooty Albatrosses are famous for their synchronous acrobatic flight during courtship.
    Feeding is mainly done by surface picking, but Sooty Albatrosses have been observed diving to about 12.4 m (mean 4.7 m) (Prince et al. 1994; Huin & Prince 1997) and are the the best diving albatrosses. Walking and standing is relatively well developed as in the other albatrosses.

    Osteology
     
    Literature
  • Brooke, M., 2004, Albatrosses and Petrels across the World, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK
  • Burg, T.M. & Croxall, P, 2004, Global population structure and taxonomy of the wandering albatross species complex, Molecular Ecology 13, 2345-2355, Blackwell Publishing Ltd
  • Dénes, F.V. & Silveira, L.B. 2007, Cranial Osteology and taxonomy of albatrosses of genus Diomedea Linnaeus, 1758 and Thalassarche Reichenbach 1853 (Procellariformes: Diomedeidae), Pap. Avulsos Zool., Vol. 47 no. 3. Sao Paulo
  • De Roy, T; Jones M.; Fitter, J., 2008, Albatross: their world, their ways. Firefly Books Ltd, Richmond Hill, Ont. Canada
  • Dubois, P., Janre, P. & Jouventin, P., 2005, Ten polymorphic microsatelite markers in the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans, Molecular Ecology Notes, Blackwell Publishing
  • Fisher, M.L., 1970, The Albatross of Midway Island, Southern Illinois Univ. Press, Carbondale, USA
  • Jameson, W, 1958, The Wandering Albatross Rev. Ed., Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, USA
  • Murphy, R.C, 1936, Oceanic Birds of South America, Macmillan Comp. & Am. Mus. of Nat. Hist., New York
  • Nunn, G.B.; Cooper, J.;Jouventin, P.; Robertson, C.J.R. & Robertson, G.G. 1996. Evolutionary relationships among extant albatrosses (Procellariformes Diomedeidae) established from complete cytochrome-b gene sequences. The Auk, 113:784-801
  • Penhallurick J. & Wink M., 2004, Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariiformes based om complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome-b gene, Emu, 2004, 104; 125-147.
  • Prince, P.A., Huin N., Weimerskirch H., 1994, Diving depths of Albatrosses, Antarctic Science 6:3:353-354 Cambridge University Press
  • Rheindt, F.E. & Austin, J.J. 2005. Major and conceptual shortcomimgs in a recent taxonomic revision of the Procellariiformes - A reply to Penhallurick & Wink 2004, Emu, 105; 181-186.
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  • Robertson, C.J.R & Nunn, G.B. 1998 Towards a new taxonomy for the albatrosses. In Robertson, G. & Gales, R. (eds), Albatross Biology and Conservation Surrey Beatty & Sons, Chipping norton, NSW, Australia, 13-19. 
  • Tickell, W.L.N., 2000, Albatrosses, Pica Press, Sussex, UK
  • Warham, J., 1990, The Petrels, their Ecology and Breeding Systems, Academic Press, London, UK
     

    Photos

    Upper right: New Zealan White-capped Albatross, Kaikoura © Eric Preston

    skulls: E. Soldaat

     

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