Endemic to the Galápagos Islands, the adult has a dark head and pale edges on the wings. It nests under coastal vegetation.
Adults have a sooty-colored head and dark gray body, with a white line along the leading edge of the wings.
Researchers created the first chromosome-level reference genome for the Lava Gull, a species found only in the Galápagos Islands. The sample was blood from one adult female collected at Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island on 9 July 2024.
The assembly is about 1.31 billion base pairs and was organised into 34 chromosome-scale units using other gull genomes for comparison. It includes both avian sex chromosomes, W and Z, and has 99.95% completeness by the BUSCO measure. The authors present it as a reference for future phylogeographic and population-genetics studies of the Lava Gull.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
The authors describe the genome as a reference for phylogeography and population-genetics research on the Lava Gull. It was assembled from one adult female sampled on Santa Cruz Island and provides a basis for later comparisons among populations.