It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Manx shearwater[REF] (see there for more on the Puffinus puffinus superspecies).
The yelkouan shearwater appears to belong to a group of Mediterranean and adjacent Atlantic shearwaters which includes the Balearic shearwater[REF] and one to three prehistorically extinct taxa, Hole's and possibly also lava shearwater as well as an undescribed population of uncertain distinctness from Menorca [REF].