Species Thalassarche cauta (Gould, 1841)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Diomedea cauta Gould, J. 1841. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, Dec. 8, 1840. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1840: 168-178 [Date published Jul 1841: publication dated 1840] [177].

  Type data:

   
  Syntype(s) BMNH 1841.6.1288 Skin, Bass Strait, Australia; ANSP 4518 (VN 1638) Skin, Bass Strait, Australia; RMNH 87009 Skin, Bass Strait, Australia.

  Type locality references:

  Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp. [54]; Van den Hoek Ostende, L.W., Dekker, R.W.R.J. & Keijl, G.O. 1997. Type-specimens of birds in the National Museum of Natural History, Leiden. NNM Technical Bulletin 1(1): 1-248 [Non-Passerines.] [10]; Ingersoll, A.W. & Fisher, C.T. 2006. Type specimens of birds in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Draft. pp. 1-355 [7].
• Diomedella cauta rohui Mathews, G.M. 1916. List of additions of new sub-species to, and changes in, my "List of the Birds of Australia". Austral Avian Records 3(3): 53-68 [Date published 4 Apr 1916] [55].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 526999 Skin, Sydney, New South Wales [33°52'S, 151°12'E].

  Type locality references:

  Greenway, J.C. Jnr 1973. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Part 1. Tinamidae, Spheniscidae, Gaviidae, Podicipedidae, Diomedeidae, Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae, Pelecanoididae, Phaethontidae, Pelecanidae, Sulidae, Phalacrocoracidae, Anhingidae, Fregatidae, Ardeidae, Cochleariidae, Scopidae, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae, Phoenicopteridae, Anatidae, Cathartidae, Accipitridae, Falconidae, Megapodiidae, Cracidae, Tetraonidae, Phasianidae, Numididae, Meleagrididae, Turnicidae, Pedionomidae, Gruidae, Rallidae. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 150(3): 207-346 [219].
• Diomedella cauta wallaca Mathews, G.M. 1918. Additions and corrections to my 1913 list. Austral Avian Records 3: 159-160 [160] (New name for D. c. rohui>).

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 526999 Skin, Sydney, New South Wales [33°52'S, 151°12'E].

 

Introduction

Thalassarche cauta and T. steadi are considered to be separate species by most sources. However, it is worth noting that they are extremely difficult to distinguish using morphological characters (T. steadi is slightly larger and has a paler face (Penhallurick 2013)) as both species show substantial overlap in morphometrics, with no single feature significantly different between taxa (Double et al. 2003). The two species can be differentiated by molecular data, where cytochrome b sequences (Chambers et al. 2009) and SNPs (Jimenez et al. 2015) have been used to distinguish the two species.

 

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Breeds on islands off TAS, common along southern coasts over inshore and offshore waters, frequently observed from land.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IMCRA

Tasmania Province (10), Southeast Transition (11), Central Eastern Province (12), Tasman Basin Province (13), Lord Howe Province (14), Macquarie Island Province (24), Central Western Shelf Province (29), Southwest Shelf Transition (30), Southwest Shelf Province (31), Great Australian Bight Shelf Transition (32), Spencer Gulf Shelf Province (33), Western Bass Strait Shelf Transition (34), Bass Strait Shelf Province (35), Tasmanian Shelf Province (36), Southeast Shelf Transition (37), Central Eastern Shelf Province (38), Central Eastern Shelf Transition (39), Southwest Transition (7), Southern Province (8), West Tasmania Transition (9)

Other Regions

Australian Antarctic Territory, Macquarie Island terrestrial & freshwater

Distribution References

General References

Chambers GK, Moeke C, Steel R & Trueman JWH 2009. Phylogenetic analysis of the 24 named albatross taxa based on full mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences. Notornis 56: 82-94

Double MC, Gales R, Reid T, Brothers N & Abbott CL 2003. Morphometric comparison on Australian shy and New Zealand white-capped albatrosses. Emu 103: 287-294

Jimenez S, Marquez A, Abreu M, Forselledo R, Pereira A & Domingo A. 2015. Molecular anlaysis suggests the occurrence of shy albatross in the south-western Atlantic Ocean and its by-catch in longline fishing. Emu 115: 58-62

Penhallurick, J 2012. The number of albatross (Diomedeidae) species. The Open Ornithology Journal 5: 32-41

 

Common Name References

Anonymous 1969. An Index of Australian Bird Names. Division of WIldlife Research Technical Paper. Canberra : CSIRO Vol. No. 20 pp. 93. [6] (Shy Mollymawk, White-capped Albatross, White-capped Molymawk)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 1994. The Taxonomy and Species of Birds of Australia and its Territories. Monograph 2. Melbourne : Royal Australasian Ornithologists Union iv 112 pp. (Shy Albatross)

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [18] (Shy Albatross)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
28-Sep-2022	PROCELLARIIFORMES	01-Nov-2022	MODIFIED
05-Apr-2019	DIOMEDEIDAE G.R. Gray, 1840	04-Apr-2019	MODIFIED
27-Oct-2015	DIOMEDEIDAE G.R. Gray, 1840	26-Oct-2015	MODIFIED
10-Nov-2020	PROCELLARIIFORMES	27-Mar-2012	MODIFIED	Dr Wayne Longmore
		12-Feb-2010	(import)