Puffinus Puffinus Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes. It comprises about 20 small to medium-sized shearwaters. Two other shearwater genera are named: "Calonectris", which comprises three or four large shearwaters, and "Ardenna" with another seven species (formerly often included within "Puffinus"). "Puffinus" is a New Latin loanword based on the English "puffin". The original Latin term for shearwaters was usually the catchall name for sea-birds, "mergus". "Puffin" and its variants, such as poffin, pophyn and puffing, referred to the cured carcass of the fat nestling of the shearwater, a former delicacy. The original usage dates from at
Audubon's shearwater likely, as yet another synonym of "dichrous". The case of the more distinct "bannermani", the range of which is parapatric to that of the Pacific "dichrous", is more complicated. It has for some time been proposed as a distinct species, Bannerman's shearwater ("P. bannermani"). In the absence of more recent data to investigate this claim, its status continues to be altogether unresolved, though the case for it being at least a distinct subspecies in the "bailloni" clade seems good. Audubon's shearwater The Audubon's shearwater ("Puffinus lherminieri") is a common tropical seabird in the petrel family. Sometimes known as the dusky-backed