The petrel was first described by Enrico Hillyer Giglioli in 1869 and named in honour of the Italian zoologist Professor Filippo de Filippi.

The vessel returned successfully to Naples in 1868 but de Filippi died in Hong Kong from dysentery during the previous year.

[5] Masatierra petrel spends the greatest part of the year at sea in the eastern Pacific Ocean south of the equator where the Humboldt Current causes a major upwelling of nutrient-rich cold water.

On the Desventuradas Islands, the largest colony is on San Ambrosio where more than 10,000 birds were estimated to be present in 1970.

[5] Masatierra petrel is a bird of the open ocean but returns to islands off the coast of Chile to breed on cliff ledges.