Family HYDROBATIDAE Mathews, 1912

Museums

Regional Maps

• Hydrobatidae Mathews, G.M. 1912. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 2 pt 4 pp. 357-476 pls 108-120. [Date published 1 Nov. 1912] [9] [original spelling; the family name Hydrobatidae has been conserved (Melville, 1985)].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1963. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 1 (Archaeopterygiformes through Ardeiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum. Biological Sciences 7: 179-293 [246].
• Thalassidromidae Bock, W.J. 1864. Beiträge zur Geschichte Statistik und Zoologie von Mexico. Vol. 3. Reise in den Vereinigten Staaten, Canada und Mexico. Leipzig : F.A. Brockhaus vii + 643 pp. [594].

  Type genus:

   Thalassidroma Vigors, N.A., 1825 [a junior synonym of Hydrobates Boie, 1822].

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [130].

Introduction

Although Northern storm petrels were previously included within the family Procellariidae, they are currently identified as a separate family. Recent results obtained through DNA studies separated the family from Oceanitidae and also confirmed the positions of the families within the order Procellariiformes. As accepted hydrobatids are primarily of Northern Hemisphere origin, with a dispersal of non-breeding birds to the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 14 species in a single genus; four of these species are represented in Australia.

With some exceptions all are small, mostly dark overall with a white patch on the rump; all have lengthy wings, a rounded head, short legs and a forked or wedge-shaped tail. The feet are totipalmate with a vestigial hallux; all have tubular nostrils. Northern storm petrels are one of the smallest of seabirds. The birds are more often seen offshore in pelagic waters rather than inshore and are usually found individually or as pairs although occasionally they form feeding aggregations. Their flight involves soaring and gliding low over the waves. Vocalisations are few and generally uttered only near the nesting burrow and used for courtship or as a greeting during a changeover for incubation. All species feed on cephalopods and other small marine animals found amongst flotsam.

None of the Australian listed species is known to breed within Australian territorial waters; all breeding records are from the Northern Hemisphere. Breeding occurs within colonies; the nest sites are small nest burrows or placed within rock clefts. Adults are monogamous, bonding for life and returning annually to the same breeding site from where they originated. One or occasionally two eggs form the clutch; the eggs are elliptical or short-oval shaped and of a dull white or cream colour with staining produced from the nesting materials, otherwise the eggs are unmarked. Both adults provide care during incubation and fledgling periods.

Name conserved: ICZN Opinion 1696.

Excluded Taxa

Vagrant Species

CAVS:8695
HYDROBATIDAE: Hydrobates leucorhoa leucorhoa (Vieillot, 1818) [Pacific Leach's Storm-Petrel] — Coues, E. 1864. A critical review of the family Procellaridae: Part I; embracing the Procellareae, or Stormy Petrels. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 16(2): 72-91 [75] (as Oceanodroma leucorrhoa, a misspelling of leucorhoa)

CAVS:0911
HYDROBATIDAE: Hydrobates leucorhoa (Vieillot, 1818) [Leach's Storm-Petrel; vagrant to the waters off southern WA and southern Vic] — Simpson, K. & Day, N. 1993. Field Guide the the Birds of Australia. Ringwood, Victoria, Australia : Penguin Books Australia Ltd Edn 4, pp. 392. [40]; 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.; Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [17, 83] (choose to recognise species in Hydrobates, rather than Oceanodroma)

CAVS:0811
HYDROBATIDAE: Hydrobates tristrami (Salvin, 1896) [Tristram's Storm-Petrel; only Australian record 9 Oct. 2000 off of Sydney, NSW] — Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [81]; Simpson, K. & Day, N. 2010. Field Guide to the Birds of Australia. Camberwell, Victoria : Penguin Group (Australia) 8, pp. 381. [287]

General References

Barrowclough, G.F., Corbin, K.W. & Zink, R.M. 1981. Genetic differences in the Procellariiformes. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology B 69: 629-632

Carboneras C. 1992. Family Hydrobatidae. pp.258-265 in del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. Handbook of the Bird of the World. Barcelona : Lynx Edicions Vol. 1 696 pp.

Christidis, L. & Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. Melbourne : CSIRO Publishing 288 pp. [84-87]

Harper, P.C. 1978. The plasma proteins of some albatrosses and petrels as an index of relationship in the Procellariiformes. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 5: 509-548

ICZN 1992. Opinion 1696: Hydrobatidae Mathews, 1912 (1865) (Aves, Procellariformes): conserved. Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature 49(3): 250-251

History of changes