Accipiter efficax
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| Accipiter efficax | ||||||||||
| Balouet & Olson , 1989 |
Accipiter efficax is an extinct bird of prey from the genus of the hawks and sparrowhawks ( Accipiter ) that wasnativeto New Caledonia . It is only known from subfossil remains from the Holocene. The kind of epithet efficax means "strong" or "mighty".
The holotype , which was brought to light in 1986 in the Pindai Cave (21 ° 20′S, 164 ° 57′E) on the Nepoui peninsula on the west coast of New Caledonia, consists of a tarsometatarsus with the entire proximal end near the trunk and the inner (medial) joint roll (trochlea metatarsi II) at the distal end of the trunk is missing. Further material includes a complete right and the scapular (facing the shoulder blade ) end of a right coracoid , two incomplete left shoulder blades, the proximal end of the left humerus , three right and one left ulna , two right and one left carpometacarpus , the proximal end of the left tibiotarsus , the distal end of the right tarsometatarsus, and four toe bones.
Accipiter efficax was tall and characterized by a relatively short, very robust tarsometatarsus. A. efficax differs from the hawk ( A. gentilis ) in the general body proportions, especially in that the elements of the forelimbs and the shoulder girdle are smaller, but the tarsometatarsi and claws are just as large as in the former species. In addition, the foramen is distal des Tarsometatarsus in A. efficax smaller than in A. gentilis and the wing-like extension of the medial joint role extends further back in the hawk. Compared to the Meyer hawk ( A. meyerianus ) the ulna is more robust, with a more massive olecranon . The tarsometatarsus is also more robust, especially when viewed from the side, the distal end is wider, the distal foramen smaller, and the posterior surface of the shaft is more deepened and trough-like.
Accipiter efficax bones were found relatively frequently in the Pindai Cave, while the remains of another extinct and smaller species, Accipiter quartus, were found less frequently. The banded goshawk ( Accipiter fasciatus ) and the white-bellied goshawk ( Accipiter haplochrous ) have not been found in New Caledonia. When and why Accipiter efficax became extinct is not known.
literature
- Jean Cristophe Balouet, Storrs L. Olson: Fossil Birds from Late Quaternary Deposits in New Caledonia. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology. Number 469.Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1989 ( online ; first description of the species there on page 6 f.)
- Michael Walters, Julian Pender Hume: Extinct Birds. Poiser Monographes, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012, ISBN 978-1-4081-5725-1 (treatise of the species there on p. 80)