Morphological and genetic analyses reveal the first Mediterranean occurrence of American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus

Salvador García Barcelona, Tereza Senfeld, Thomas Shannon, Jon Collinson, Pim Edelaar, Asier Aldalur, Gabriel Martín, Juan Luis García Mudarra, Javier Juste

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We report here the first record of an American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus in a Mediterranean coastal site (18 February–14 March 2019, Fuengirola, Malaga, S Spain). This gull was an adult bird and its identification was confirmed by a combination of mtDNA molecular analyses and morphological characters. This record furthermore stands as possibly the first ever adult bird of the ‘Niagara’ phenotype in Europe, which would indicate that it originated from the central region of USA/Canada or even from the west coast. This is the southernmost
record of an adult bird of this species in the Western Palearctic and the eleventh for the Iberian Peninsula since 1991.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-9
Number of pages12
JournalRevista catalana d'ornitologia = Catalan journal of ornithology
Volume37
Early online date1 Jan 2021
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2021

Keywords

  • American Herring Gull
  • Cytb
  • COI
  • gene sequence
  • mtDNA
  • vagrancy

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