Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull (atlantis)

(last update: October 12, 2011)

Adult Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis specimens MNHN, Paris. Picture: Philippe Dubois.

Adult Yellow-legged Gull Larus michahellis specimens, from left to right:

- ‘Mediterranean’, Bouches-du-Rhone, France, April 1921;

- ‘Atlantic Moroccan', Essaouira, Morocco, April 1981;

- ‘Madeiran’, Salvage Islands, 1978; and

- ‘Azorean’, Pico, Azores, September 1930.

Collection MNHN, Paris, picture by Philippe Dubois. The mantle colour seems to be clinal from the Mediterranean (palest) birds to the Azorean (darkest) birds. More studies are needed to assign a definite sub-specific name to the birds of Iberia and Morocco, and Madeira and the Canary Islands.