We inventoried seabird specimens—skeletons and skins—collected during beach surveys of Paraná, south Brazil, both the mainland coast and offshore islets during the period 1992–94. We found 184 specimens comprising four orders and 17 species. This represents the most important collection of seabirds from Paraná and includes three new records for the state, Cory's Shearwater Calonectris borealis, Sooty Shearwater Puffinus griseus and Snowy Sheathbill Chionis albus. We recommend the removal of two species from the avifauna of Paraná—Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta and Broad-billed Prion Pachyptila vittata—due to the lack of tangible evidence. All of this material is held in publicly accessible natural history museums.
Natural history museums and their research collections play an important role in cataloguing biodiversity. Material held in museums aids our understanding of species diversity, evolution and genetics (Winker 2005). Collections are also important for educational and cultural reasons (Arinze 1999). They represent biological ‘ libraries’ and their databases provide a robust starting point for scientific studies (Suarez & Tsutsui 2004, Joseph 2011).
In Brazil, three museums specialise in seabirds: the Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Imbé (MUCIN) and Coleção de Aves da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul—FURG, Rio Grande (CAFURG), both in Rio Grande do Sul state, and the Museu Oceanográfico do Vale do Itajaí, Itajaí (MOVI) in Santa Catarina state. The MOVI and MUCIN collections also focus on osteological material, which comprises more than 90% of their specimens (Aleixo & Straube 2007; M. Tavares 2017 pers. comm.). In Paraná state, the principal natural history museums are the Museu de Historia Natural do Capão da Imbuia, Curitiba (MHNCI) and Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Paraná, Curitiba (MCNPR), neither of which specialises in seabirds. In the early 1990s, the establishment of an ornithology laboratory on the Paraná coast and detailed beached bird surveys led to the founding of a seabird osteological collection at the Centro de Estudos do Mar (CEM), Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR), Pontal do Paraná (Moraes & Krul 1992). Here we provide a complete list of the specimens collected in Paraná by the ornithology laboratory.
Specimens of seabirds were collected during non-systematic transect surveys between the beaches of Shangrilá (25°37′07″S, 48°24′37″W) and Pontal do Sul (25°33′51″S, 48°21′17″W), covering 9 km of coast in Pontal do Paraná municipality. Beached birds were recorded by ad libitum searches, from the surf zone to the landward edge of the beach. Additional opportunistic surveys were undertaken in the Currais archipelago (National Marine Park at c.25°44′S, 48°21′W) and Ilha Itacolomis (25°50′31″S, 48°24′26″W), as well nearby beaches. All of this material was incorporated in the osteological / skin collection reported here (MCEM or MCEMAV).
Despite the importance of this material to the avifauna of Paraná, there have been few publications based on it—just two conference abstracts both published c.20 years ago (Krul & Moraes 1997, Moraes & Krul 1997), making the present study the first publication to fully discuss and inventory the seabird specimens collected on the Paraná coast in 1992–94 by the ornithology laboratory. Here, we propose the inclusion of three new records and the removal of two species from the Paraná state bird list. We considered as ‘seabirds’ those specimens classed as Sphenisciformes, Procellariiformes, Suliformes (except Phalacrocoracidae and Anhingidae) and Charadriiformes, except Charadrii (but including Chionidae) and Scolopacii (sensu Harrison 1985). We followed the taxonomy of the Brazilian Ornithological Records Committee (CBRO) (Piacentini et al. 2015), except Shy Albatross Thalassarche cauta, where we follow ACAP (2011).
Comments on the material
The studied seabird collection comprises 184 specimens, belonging to the following orders: Sphenisciformes (9%), Procellariiformes (50%), Suliformes (32%) and Charadriiformes (9%) (Table 1). Sphenisciformes were represented exclusively by Magellanic Penguin Spheniscus magellanicus (n = 16). Procellariiformes comprised albatrosses (Diomedeidae, n = 18) and petrels (Procellariidae, n = 75), mostly represented by the genera Puffinus (n = 32) and Calonectris (n = 24). Suliformes were exclusively represented by specimens of Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens (n = 21) and Brown Booby Sula leucogaster (n = 37), both of which breed on islands in Paraná (Krul 2004). Charadriiformes were represented by Snowy Sheathbill Chionis albus (n = 1), Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus (n =5), terns (Sternidae, n = 8) and skuas (Stercorariidae, n = 2).
The only specimen data available was that provided on the labels on the specimen boxes. This information covered genus / species identification, date, identifier and collector, and collection locality. Despite poor storage conditions, the skins and skeletons are in good state. We reorganised all of the material based on current CBRO taxonomy and some specimens were reclassified based on comparative osteology (Table 1). Most are skeletons (n = 178; 96%), with only six preserved as skins (3%). One Brown Skua Stercorarius antarcticus (MCEMAV 34) is preserved as a study skin and partial skeleton. Among osteological material, most (53%) are complete skeletons, with the rest being partial skeletons (40.5%) or complete skulls (6%). One specimen is represented exclusively by the cranium and the jaw (0.5%). All specimens are currently held in the Coleção Científica Ornitológica, Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (MUCIN) or Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Paraná (MCNPR).
Contribution to Paraná ornithology
The material inventoried here represents the only major collection of seabirds made in Paraná (F. C. Straube in litt. 2017), but has been largely overlooked in the ornithological literature. These specimens add to the history of seabird studies made by UFPR on the Paraná coast. In addition, under the criteria proposed by Carlos et al. (2010) skins and osteological material (Table 1) provide evidence to support species occurrences. On this basis, we suggest that the following taxa should be included on the primary list of birds recorded in Paraná state (Scherer-Neto et al. 2011).
CORY'S SHEARWATER Calonectris borealis
Trans-equatorial migrant that breeds in the Northern Hemisphere. Regular in Brazilian waters during the species' non-breeding period (González-Solís et al. 2007, Dias et al. 2011) and common during pelagic trips off southern Brazil (Neves et al. 2006), with records from the neighbouring states of Santa Catarina (Ghizoni-Jr. et al. 2013), São Paulo (Figueiredo 2016) and Rio Grande do Sul (Bencke et al. 2010). Krul & Moraes (1997) reported many carcasses on beaches in Paraná in May 1994 (n = 55). Skeletons are retained at MUCIN (MCEMAV 306–307; Barrancos beach, 30 May 1994; complete); and MCNPR (MCEMAV 327–328; Pontal do Sul beach, 15 May 1994; complete).
TABLE 1
List of seabird specimens collected on the coast of Paraná, southern Brazil, by the ornithology laboratory (CEM-UFPR) in 1992–94, and currently deposited at Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Paraná (MCNPR) and Museu de Ciências Naturais da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (MUCIN). All of the beaches lie within the 9 km covered by regular transects, except Ipanema (25°39′00″S, 48°26′12″W), Praia de Leste (25°41′01″S, 48°27′02″W), Monções (25°42′46″S, 48°28′36″W), Gaivotas (25°43′33″S, 48°28′56″W), and the islands Ilha do Mel (25°32′7″S, 48°19′52″W), Ilha dos Currais (Currais archipelago) and Ilha Itacolomis. Legend: u.d. = unknown date.
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SOOTY SHEARWATER Puffinus griseus
Trans-equatorial migrant that breeds in the Southern Hemisphere. Follows the Brazilian coast en route to its wintering areas in the North Atlantic, using waters off Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina to forage during the breeding season (Hedd et al. 2012, 2014). Common but not abundant during pelagic trips off south-east and southern Brazil (Neves et al. 2006), with records off São Paulo, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul (Bencke et al. 2010, Ghizoni-Jr. et al. 2013, Figueiredo 2016). Known from Paraná based on eight carcasses (Moraes & Krul 1997). Osteological material is held at MUCIN (MCEMAV 86; Atami beach, 24 September 1992; complete skeleton) and one skin at MCNPR (MCEMAV 33; Atami beach, 2 August 1992).
SNOWY SHEATHBILL Chionis albus
Southern Hemisphere vagrant to Brazil, based mainly on records from Rio Grande do Sul (Dias et al. 2010). Documented records of Snowy Sheathbill for Brazil include the specimen mentioned by Moraes & Krul (1997) for Paraná. The partial skeleton (including complete skull) is deposited at MUCIN (MCEMAV 188; Ilha dos Currais, 13 June 1994). Dias et al. (2010) mentioned documented records of C. albus from Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, as well as Bahia and Pernambuco (north-east Brazil).
We suggest removing the following two species from the primary list of bird species recorded in Paraná (Scherer-Neto et al. 2011) as follows.
SHY ALBATROSS Thalassarche cauta
Evidence for the species' occurrence in Paraná is based on a photograph by RK (Fig. 1; Scherer-Neto et al. 2011). The specimen was brought alive to CEM-UFPR and, following observation for a few days, was released. No material other than the photograph was retained. Bill colour confirms that the bird was an adult, but the absence of yellow at the base of the culminicorn does not reliably distinguish Shy Albatross and White-capped Albatross T. steadi (Carlos 2008). Consequently, the photograph alone does not determine which species was involved. Following ACAP (2011), Pereira et al. (2016) presented the first documented record of White-capped Albatross for Brazil. These authors suggested that Shytype albatrosses recorded in Brazil might be White-capped because numbers of this species recorded as by-catch in Uruguayan pelagic longline fisheries are much larger (Jiménez et al. 2009, 2015). We propose moving Shy Albatross to the tertiary list (hypothetical occurrence; lacking any confirmed records) and White-capped Albatross to the secondary list (probable occurrence) for Paraná (Scherer-Neto et al. 2011).
BROAD-BILLED PRION Pachyptila vittata
Moraes & Krul (1997) reported a specimen from Atami beach, Paraná, on 14 May 1994, which was subsequently lost. But, in any case, RK believes that the specimen actually involved an example of Slender-billed Prion P. belcheri.
Discussion
The information presented here contributes to our knowledge of seabird occurrence in southern Brazil, from where there are still comparatively few publications focused on beached seabirds (e.g. Vooren & Fernandes 1989, Faria et al. 2014), despite their important contribution to overall knowledge of the Brazilian seabird avifauna (Roos & Piacentini 2003, Bugoni 2006, Pereira et al. 2016). Although the records do not permit us to elucidate stranding patterns, the data match known seasonality of migrants and other occurrence patterns (Harrison 1985, Vooren & Fernandes 1989). It appears that the species added to the state's bird list had not been documented previously because of the paucity of appropriate studies. Therefore, beach monitoring surveys contribute to knowledge, by providing various data including specimens.
This is the largest collection to date of seabirds in Paraná, with most specimens being skeletons. The osteological material, though, has the advantage that it can be maintained at low cost, being durable and less susceptible to damage (Winker 2000, Olson 2003, Causey & Trimble 2005). Even so, the number of skeletons is <10% of material in Brazilian collections and worldwide, with few exceptions (Causey & Trimble 2005, Aleixo & Straube 2007, Müller & Vieira 2016).
Our work highlights the importance of subjecting specimens to appropriate verification and agrees with the role of public natural history collections (Brooke 2000, Rainbow 2009) both to civil society and government agencies (Suarez & Tsutsui 2004). Open science improves dissemination of knowledge on species' distributions (Baird 2010, Drew 2011). We encourage scientific collections and museums unable to provide open access to their material (via websites) to compile and publish catalogues periodically.
Beach monitoring surveys contribute to documenting seabirds in the country, supplementing field and other studies, improving information on seabird biology and helping to expand scientific collections. Therefore, we encourage salvaging specimens from beach surveys, especially osteological material.
Acknowledgements
We thank Valéria Moraes-Ornellas who co-founded the ornithology laboratory at CEM-UFPR together with RK. Fernando Sedor (MCNPR-UFPR) and Maurício Tavares (MUCIN-UFRGS) permitted us to check and publish these data. Thanks to Caio J. Carlos for discussing the records of Broad-billed Prion and Shy Albatross, and Fernando C. Straube who improved an early version of this manuscript and discussed the Shy-type albatross record with us. The submitted manuscript benefitted from the valuable suggestions of Bianca P. Vieira, an anonymous reviewer and the editor Guy Kirwan. Anthony C. Grice kindly revised the English language. NWD & AP are supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Brazil.
