Lava shearwater

The lava shearwater (Puffinus olsoni), or Olson's shearwater, is an extinct species of shearwater that bred on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands. It is known from fossil remains, and was only described in 1990. It was intermediate in size between the Manx shearwater and the little shearwater. The remains of the species are particularly common in lava fields.

Lava shearwater Temporal range: Holocene
Skull at the Museum of Nature and Man, Tenerife (Spain).
Conservation status
Extinct
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Procellariiformes
Family:	Procellariidae
Genus:	Puffinus
Species:	†P. olsoni
Binomial name
†Puffinus olsoni McMinn, Jaume & Alcover, 1990

Left and middle: Skull of P. olsoni (above) compared to skull of P. puffinus
Right: Humerus of P. olsoni (left) compared to humerus of P. puffinus (right)

Hypothetical life restoration, based on known material and extant Puffinus shearwaters.

The species is thought to have survived the arrival of the first settlers in the Canary Islands, and become extinct after the arrival of European settlers in the 15th century. It is suspected that the species became extinct due to hunting pressures and possibly the arrival of introduced species such as rats.

References

• J. C. Rando, J. A. Alcover (2008) "Evidence for a second western Palaearctic seabird extinction during the last Millennium: the Lava Shearwater Puffinus olsoni" Ibis 150 (1), 188–192 doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2007.00741.x