Procellaria

Procellaria is a genus of Southern Ocean long-winged seabirds related to prions, and the type genus of the order Procellariiformes. The black petrel (Procellaria parkinsoni) ranges in the Pacific Ocean, and as far north as Central America. The spectacled petrel (Procellaria conspicillata) is confined to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Westland petrel (Procellaria westlandica) to the Pacific Ocean. The white-chinned (Procellaria aequinoctialis) and grey petrel (Procellaria cinerea) range throughout the higher latitudes of the Southern Ocean.

==Taxonomy== The genus Procellaria was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. The name is from the Latin procella meaning "storm" or "gale". The type species was designated as the white-chinned petrel by George Robert Gray in 1840.