What is "mollymawk"

Glutton \Glut"ton\, n. [OE. glotoun, glotun, F. glouton, fr. L. gluto, glutto. See Glut.]

1. One who eats voraciously, or to excess; a gormandizer.

2. Fig.: One who gluts himself.

   Gluttons in murder, wanton to destroy.
   --Granville.

3. (Zo["o]l.) A carnivorous mammal ( Gulo gulo formerly Gulo luscus), of the weasel family Mustelid[ae], about the size of a large badger; called also wolverine, wolverene and carcajou. It was formerly believed to be inordinately voracious, whence the name. It is a native of the northern parts of America, Europe, and Asia.

   Glutton bird (Zo["o]l.), the giant fulmar ( Ossifraga gigantea); -- called also Mother Carey's goose, and mollymawk.

Mollemoke \Mol"le*moke`\, n. [Sw. mallemucke the stormy petrel.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of several species of large pelagic petrels and fulmars, as Fulmarus glacialis, of the North Atlantic, and several species of [AE]strelata, of the Southern Ocean. See Fulmar. [Written also mollymawk, malmock, mollemock, mallemocke, etc.]

n. Any of a group of medium-sized albatrosses in the genus ''Thalassarche''.

n. large web-footed birds of the southern hemisphere having long narrow wings; noted for powerful gliding flight [syn: albatross]

The mollymawks are a group of medium-sized albatrosses that form the genus Thalassarche. The name has sometimes been used for the genus Phoebetria as well, but these are usually called sooty albatrosses. They are restricted to the Southern Hemisphere, where they are the most common of the albatrosses. They were long considered to be in the same genus as the great albatrosses, Diomedea, but a study of their mitochondrial DNA showed that they are a monophyletic taxon related to the sooty albatrosses, and they were placed in their own genus.