Puffin are closely related, together composing the subfamily Fraterculini. The scientific name "Fratercula" is derived from Latin and means "little brother", a reference to the black and white plumage, which resembles monastic robes. The English name "puffin" – puffed in the sense of swollen – was originally applied to the fatty, salted meat of young birds of the unrelated Manx shearwater ("Puffinus puffinus"), formerly known as the "Manks puffin". Puffin is an Anglo-Norman word (Middle English "pophyn" or "poffin") for the cured carcasses of nestling Manx shearwaters. The oldest alcid fossil is "Hydrotherikornis" from Oregon dating to the Late Eocene while
Bannerman's shearwater Bannerman's shearwater Bannerman's shearwater ("Puffinus bannermani") is a seabird in the Procellariidae family formerly considered conspecific with Audubon's shearwater ("Puffinus lherminieri"). Little is known of this species other than that it breeds in the Volcano Islands in the Ogasawara Group to the southwest of Japan and doesn't seem to range far from this area. The species population size has not been estimated but is assessed to be decreasing. Not much is known about this species and more research is required to obtain an understanding of its ecology. Based on the ecology of closely related species, "P. bannermani" is thought likely