A phylogenetic analysis using mitochondrial DNA published in 2004 found that Puffinus contained two distinct clades and was polyphyletic, with Puffinus more closely related to Calonectris than to Ardenna.[2][3] To create monophyletic genera a group of species were moved into Ardenna, a genus that had been introduced in 1853 by Ludwig Reichenbach with the great shearwater as the type species.[4][5] Reichenbach cites the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi who in 1603 used the spelling "Artenna" for a seabird.[6][7] Recent genomic studies have validated the phylogenetic distinction between Ardenna and Puffinus, though this study finding Ardenna rather than Puffinus being closer to Calonectris.[8]
Species
Extant
The genus contains seven extant species as shown below:[9]
Breeds Tierra del Fuego, Falkland Islands, southeast Australia, New Zealand, foraging widespread in Atlantic and Pacific Oceans north to 65°N (rarely 70°N).
Breeds southern Indian Ocean (Amsterdam Island) and southwest Pacific Ocean including Lord Howe Island, South Australia and northern New Zealand, foraging across most of the western and central Pacific Ocean north to 60°N.
Breeds southern Atlantic Ocean on Tristan da Cunha group, also small numbers on the Falkland Islands, foraging across most of the Atlantic Ocean north to 65°N.
Extinct
The genus contains five extinct species as shown below:[11]
^"Procellariidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
^Penhallurick, John; Wink, Michael (2004). "Analysis of the taxonomy and nomenclature of the Procellariformes based on complete nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene". Emu. 104 (2): 125–147. Bibcode:2004EmuAO.104..125P. doi:10.1071/MU01060. S2CID83202756.
^Reichenbach, H. G. Ludwig (1853). Avium systema naturale. Dresden and Leipzig: Expedition der vollständigsten naturgeschichte. p. IV. The title page has 1850 (original title page missing in the BHL scan but available from BSB). The Preface is dated 1852 but Mayr 1979 gives the year as 1853.