Species profile
Foveaux Shag
Leucocarbo stewarti
Quick answer
The type locality of Gracalus chalconotus G. R. Gray, 1845 is currently considered to be Otago Province. However, the Otago Province included Southland and Foveaux Strait until 1861. We consider that the likely type locality is in fact Karitane, where the type specimen was likely collected by Percy Earl in 1843 (Scofield et al., 2012). Although Earl spent the majority of his time at Karitane, Earl only travelled as far south as the Clutha River, which is still within the range of the Otago lineage, but may have had Maori ‾ collect for him elsewhere (Scofield et al., 2012). The type locality of Phalacrocorax stewarti Ogilvie-Grant, 1898 is Bluff (a town in Southland), where specimens were collected by Baron A. von Hugel on 13 February 1875 (Ogilvie-Grant, 1898 contra Stewart, Gill et al., 2010). Ogilvie-Grant (1898) designated three syntypes (NHMUK 1880.5.3.1, 1880.5.3.2, and 1880.5.3.6), all pied morphs. Warren (1966) only segregated and listed the syntype 1880.5.3.6 for inclusion in the NHMUK type collection, but this action does not affect the status of the remaining unselected syntypes. NHMUK 1880.5.3.1 and 1880.5.3.2 are currently labelled as Phalacrocorax campbelli huttoni (reflecting a previous taxonomic treatment) and we did not attempt to obtain DNA from them. As all three syntypes were collected from the same locality at the same time, and 1880.5.3.6 clusters with individuals from Foveaux Strait (Figs. 4, 6, Appendix 1), we refer 1880.5.3.1 and 1880.5.3.2 to L. stewarti.
- Scientific name
- Leucocarbo stewarti
- Family
- Phalacrocoracidae
- Order
- Suliformes
- Genus
- Leucocarbo
Recording Foveaux Shag in your journal
When you see this bird, log the sighting with the date, the place and any photos. If it's your first, Feather Journal marks it as a lifer and adds it to your life list automatically — no spreadsheet, no re-typing.
Related species in Phalacrocoracidae
- Auckland Islands Shag (Leucocarbo colensoi)
- Bank Cormorant (Phalacrocorax neglectus)
- Black-faced Cormorant (Phalacrocorax fuscescens)
- Borvocarbo guilloti (Borvocarbo guilloti)
- Borvocarbo stoeffelensis (Borvocarbo stoeffelensis)
- Borvocarbo tardatus (Borvocarbo tardatus)
- Bounty Shag (Leucocarbo ranfurlyi)
- Brandt's cormorant (Phalacrocorax penicillatus)