This is an accepted version of this page Scarlett's shearwater (Puffinus spelaeus) (Māori: Ōiruki)[1] is an extinct species of seabird in the petrel family Procellariidae.

Its common name commemorates New Zealand palaeontologist Ron Scarlett, who recognised the bird's subfossil remains represented a distinct species.

[2] This bird was described from bones collected in 1991 from a cave near the Fox River in the South Island of New Zealand.

[6][7] It was smaller than its relatives, with an estimated weight of 250 g, and had the short wings characteristic of the fluttering shearwater.

[2] P. spelaeus is most likely to have been driven to extinction by a combination of exploitation by humans and predation by kiore/Polynesian rat Rattus exulans, which was introduced by Polynesians to New Zealand about 750 years ago.