Barolo shearwater a distinct species (Sangster et al. 2005), as has "Clements Checklist". The American Ornithologists' Union followed in 2013. Features that distinguish the Barolo shearwater from the Manx shearwater and other North Atlantic "Puffinus" species include the pale face, silvery panel in the upperwings, shorter more rounded wings, and blue feet. As well as the pale face with the darkly contrasting eye. The Baraolo shearwater occurs in the Macaronesian Islands and breeds on the Azores, Desertas, Selvagens and Canary islands. The largest colony, of 1400 pairs, occurs on the Selvagen Islands. The Barolo shearwater feeds in the upper 15m of the
Procellariidae with "Pseudobulweria" being phylogenetically closer to the "Puffinus" shearwaters than the "Pterodroma" gadfly petrels, and "Aphrodroma" (the Kerguelen petrel) possibly being closely related to the shearwaters or the fulmars. The prions, according to Nunn and Stanley, were among the larger shearwater group. The "Calonectris" shearwaters were placed close to the two "Puffinus" clades (closer to the Puffinus, or small, clade) and both were distant to the "Procellaria" shearwaters. The relationships between the genera and within the genera are still the subject of debate, with researchers lumping and splitting the species and genera within the family and arguing about the position