Puffinus

Puffinus is a genus of seabirds in the order Procellariiformes that contains 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.

Puffinus

JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ ) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
shearwaterPBDB
Sits inside
ProcellariidaePBDB
Diet
carnivorePBDB, for Coelurosauria
Life habit
ground dwelling, solitaryPBDB, for Theropoda
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
marinePBDB, for Procellariiformes

Time the record covers

At least 20 million years on record.

The record covers at least 20.45 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 245 occurrencesMiocene — about 36 of 245 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 25 of 245 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 57 of 245 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 3 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 7 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 7 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 4 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.3–5.5 Mya — about 1 occurrence5.5–4.7 Mya — about 5 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 6 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 178 occurrences20.45 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

245 occurrences of Puffinus on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

245 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

21 formations

San Diego — 32.90°N, 117.10°WSan Diego — 32.75°N, 117.17°WSan Diego — 32.76°N, 117.13°WSan Diego — 32.74°N, 117.05°WSan Diego — 32.63°N, 117.02°WSan Diego — 32.80°N, 117.26°WTemblor — 35.46°N, 118.92°WTemblor — 35.30°N, 118.50°WMonterey — 33.60°N, 117.70°WMonterey — 34.61°N, 120.44°WYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WAlmejas — 28.11°N, 115.18°W"Topanga" — 33.66°N, 117.63°WVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.99°N, 118.45°WPalos Verdes Sand — 33.66°N, 117.90°WRosarito Beach — 32.12°N, 116.80°WHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°ECalvert — 38.54°N, 76.73°WSanta Margarita — 37.01°N, 122.01°WTangahoe — 39.58°S, 174.28°EPungo River — 35.40°N, 76.80°WModelo — 34.15°N, 118.47°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WTaime — 4.32°S, 81.25°WTaihape Mudstone — 39.68°S, 175.72°EIndusial Limestone — 46.26°N, 3.51°EKiyokawa — 35.46°N, 140.09°EIchijiku — 35.27°N, 140.00°E

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The named rock units Puffinus has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 178 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

2,593 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 203 sites for Puffinus, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

97 references

Each of the 245 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 85 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Puffinus

Credit
JJ Harrison ( https://www.jjharrison.com.au/ )
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Puffinus tenuirostris · USNM:BIRDS:USNM 561180

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
Commercial use
the licence does not allow it

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itProcellariidae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Brisson 1760