The Atlantic Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata trinitatis) is elevated to a separate species from Fregata ariel of the Indo-Pacific based on plumage differences and greater robustness of the rostrum and wing bones. The species now occurs only on the remote South Atlantic island of Trindade (South Trinidad) over 1,100 km east of mainland Brazil, although fossils establish that it once also occurred at St. Helena. Fregata trinitatis no longer breeds on the main island of Trindade and is only known to nest with certainty on a small rocky islet on the southern coast, where there may be fewer than 20 breeding pairs.
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1 December 2017
Species Rank For the Critically Endangered Atlantic Lesser Frigatebird (Fregata trinitatis)
Storrs L. Olson
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fossils
Fregata ariel
Fregata minor nicolli
geographic variation
Ilha da Trindade
South Trinidad. St. Helena