The genus
Calonectris was introduced in 1915 by the ornithologists
Gregory Mathews and
Tom Iredale with the
streaked shearwater as the
type species. The genus name combines the
Ancient Greek kalos meaning "good" or "noble" with the genus name
Nectris that was used for shearwaters by the German naturalist
Heinrich Kuhl in 1820. The name
Nectris comes from the Ancient Greek
nēktris meaning "swimmer". Scopoli's shearwater and Cory's shearwater were previously considered as conspecific and formed the Cory's shearwater complex (
Calonectris diomedea). Based on the lack of hybridization and differences in mitochondrial DNA, morphology and vocalisation, the complex was split into two separate species. The English name "Cory's shearwater" was transferred to
Calonectris borealis while what was previously the
nominate subspecies became Scopoli's shearwater (
Calonectris diomedea).
Phylogeny Phylogeny based on a study by Joan Ferrer Obiol and collaborators published in 2022. }} ==References==