Little shearwater

Little shearwater
Puffinus assimilis elegans
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Procellariiformes
Family: Procellariidae
Genus: Puffinus
Species:
P. assimilis
Binomial name
Puffinus assimilis
Gould, 1838
Subspecies
  • P. a. assimilis (Gould, 1838)
    Tasman Sea little shearwater
  • P. a. tunneyi Mathews, 1912
    Western Australia little shearwater
  • P. a. kermadecensis Murphy, 1927
    Kermadec little shearwater
  • P. a. haurakiensis J. H. Fleming & Serventy, 1943
    New Zealand little shearwater

The little shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) is a small shearwater in the petrel family Procellariidae. Despite the generic name, it is unrelated to the puffins, which are auks, the only similarity being that they are both burrow-nesting seabirds.