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The gadfly petrels or Pterodroma are a genus of about 35 species of , part of the seabird order Procellariiformes. The gadfly petrels are named for their speedy weaving flight, as if evading gadflies (horse-fly). The flight action is also reflected in the name Pterodroma, from Ancient Greek pteron, "wing" and dromos, "runner".
The short, sturdy bills of these medium to large petrels are adapted for soft prey that they pick from the ocean surface. They have twisted intestines for digesting marine animals that have unusual biochemistries.
Their complex wing and face marking are probably for interspecific recognition.
These birds nest in colonies on islands and are Pelagic zone when not breeding. One white egg is laid usually in a Burrow nest or on open ground. They are nocturnal at the breeding colonies.
While generally wide-ranging, most Pterodroma species are confined to a single ocean basin (e.g. Atlantic), and vagrancy is not as common amongst the genus as in some other seabird species (cf. the storm petrels Hydrobatidae). Eleven species in this genus breed in the New Zealand region, and six of these are only found there.
The species listed here are those recognised in the online list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), also Tennyson et al. 2015. The genus includes 36 species, of which two have become possibly extinct in historical times.
| southern Indian and Atlantic oceans |
| subantarctic |
| islets off northern New Zealand |
| Gough Island |
| Lord Howe Island and Phillip Island |
| Chatham Islands |
| Polynesia |
| southern Atlantic and Indian oceans to Antipodes Islands |
| Madeira |
| Cape Verde |
| Madeira |
| Castle Harbour, Bermuda |
| montane Hispaniola and Dominica |
| montane eastern Jamaica |
| Alejandro Selkirk Island |
| Vanua Lava |
| Pacific Ocean with eccentric breeding in the Indian Ocean on Round Island, Mauritius |
| southwest Pacific and Round Island |
| Trindade and Martim Vaz and Round Island |
| southeast Pacific |
| southern Pacific |
| RĂ©union ; winters to western Australia |
| Hawaii |
| Galapagos Islands |
| southern New Zealand ; winters to Bering Sea |
| Phillip Island (Norfolk Island) and Kermadec Islands ; winters southern Pacific |
| Round Island and southwest Pacific ; winters southern Pacific |
| Rangatira Island |
| northwest Pacific |
| southwest Pacific |
| southwest Pacific |
| Great & Little Barrier Island, Codfish Island |
| Desventuradas Islands and Santa Clara Island |
| Alejandro Selkirk Island ; winters north Pacific |
| islets off northeastern New Zealand |
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