Leucocarbo chalconotus, Foveaux, Foveaux

Nicolas J. Rawlence, R. Paul Scofield, Hamish G. Spencer, Chris Lalas, Luke J. Easton, Alan J. D. Tennyson, Mark Adams, Eric Pasquet, Cody Fraser, Jonathan M. Waters & Martyn Kennedy, 2016, Genetic and morphological evidence for two species of Leucocarbo shag (Aves, Pelecaniformes, Phalacrocoracidae) from southern South Island of New Zealand, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 177, pp. 676-694 : 687

LEUCOCARBO CHALCONOTUS OTAGO SHAG

GRACALUS CHALCONOTUS G. R. GRAY, 1845

Diagnosis. A species of Leucocarbo most closely related to L. stewarti and L. onslowi but distinguished from these species by the plumage characters and allometries outlined in Table 1 .

Distribution. Formerly the eastern South, NZ. Leucocarbo chalconotus bones have been recorded from Late Quaternary and archaeological deposits along the entire eastern coastline of South (e.g., Worthy, 1998a; Smith, 2011). Now restricted to Otago from Lake Ki-Wainono to The Sisters (based on historical museum skins and modern specimens), with modern vagrants north to Banks Peninsula (see Fig. 1 ). Rare modern beach wrecks on Stewart ( Rawlence et al., 2015).

Figures

Figure 1. Distributional and morphological data for Otago, Foveaux, and Chatham Island shags. A, map of New Zeal- and showing the location of the Chatham Islands and Otago / Foveaux Strait study sites. Blue circles represent the prehistoric distribution of Otago shag outside the study area. B, distribution of Chatham Island shag breeding colonies and roosting sites (green circles). The Chatham Island shag exhibits pied plumage only (white pie chart) with pronounced bright orange caruncles in breeding plumage (orange pie chart). C, distribution of Otago (blue circles) and Foveaux (red circles) shag breeding colonies and roosting sites. Otago shag populations have 20 – 30 % pied morphs (pie charts; black: dark-bronze; white: pied) and 50: 50 % small bright orange caruncles: dark orange scattered papillae in prenuptial breeding plumage (pie charts; yellow: small bright orange caruncles; grey: dark orange scattered papillae) compared with 50 – 60 % pied morph and dark orange scattered papillae in prenuptial breeding plumage in the Foveaux shag. In (C), multiple breeding colonies and roosting sites are represented at the following locations (from north to south): Otago Peninsula including Long Beach, Aramoana, Otago Harbour, Taiaroa Head, Boulder Beach, Papanui Beach, Allans Beach, Wharekakahu Island, and Gull Rocks; Seal Rocks and Ruapuke Island; Easy Harbour and Shag Rock. In (C), the Leucocarbo shag species illustrating plumage characters are: pied morph (Otago shag), bronze morph (Foveaux shag), small caruncles (Otago shag), and scattered papillae (Foveaux shag). Figure adapted from Rawlence et al. (2014).