The Rapa shearwater (''Puffinus myrtae''), is a rare seabird of the tropics from the family Procellariidae. It breeds on the surrounding islets of Rapa in the Austral Islands of

French Polynesia )Territorial motto: ( en, "Great Tahiti of the Golden Haze") , anthem = , song_type = Regional anthem , song = "Ia Ora 'O Tahiti Nui" , image_map = French Polynesia on the globe (French Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of French ...

where it is known locally as the ''kaki kaki''. The Rapa shearwater was first described in 1959 as a subspecies of the

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 ...

. The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of seve ...

was later found to be a juvenile and an adult specimen was described in 2017. A 2015 genetic study using DNA sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome ''b'' gene, found that the Rapa shearwater is sister to a clade containing the

Hawaiian shearwater Newell's shearwater or Hawaiian shearwater (''ʻaʻo''), (''Puffinus newelli'') is a seabird in the family Procellariidae. It belongs to a confusing group of shearwaters which are difficult to identify and whose classification is controversial. I ...

(''Puffinus newelli'') and the

(''Puffinus assimilis''). Morphological data supports this relationship but the Rapa shearwater is much smaller than the other two species. Not much is known about its decline. It most likely once occurred on Rapa itself, though this population has been extirpated by the polynesian rat, feral goats, and

feral cats A feral cat or a stray cat is an unowned domestic cat (''Felis catus'') that lives outdoors and avoids human contact: it does not allow itself to be handled or touched, and usually remains hidden from humans. Feral cats may breed over dozens ...

References

Rapa shearwater Endemic birds of French Polynesia Birds of the Austral Islands Rapa shearwater Rapa Iti {{Procellariiformes-stub