Kingdom Animalia Class Aves Family Procellariidae Rank Species | Phylum Chordata Order Procellariiformes Genus Puffinus | |
Similar Boyd's shearwater, Townsend's shearwater, Heinroth's shearwater, Persian shearwater, Galápagos shearwater | ||
The Rapa shearwater (Puffinus myrtae), is a rare seabird of the tropics from the family Procellariidae. It breeds on the island of Rapa in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia where it is known locally as the kaki kaki.
Its relationship is confusing. Its closest relatives are probably, but not certainly, the Hawaiian shearwater (Puffinus newelli) and possibly the little shearwater (Puffinus assimilis). It used to be included in the former as a subspecies and was long considered a subspecies of the latter.
References
Rapa shearwater Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA