Puerto Rico pigeon

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Puerto Rico pigeon
Puerto Rico pigeon bones

Puerto Rico pigeon bones

Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Pigeon birds (Columbiformes)
Family : Pigeons (Columbidae)
Genre : American earth pigeons ( Geotrygon )
Type : Puerto Rico pigeon
Scientific name
Geotrygon larva
( Wetmore , 1920)

The Puerto Rican pigeon ( Geotrygon larva ), also known as the Puerto Rican earth dove, is an extinct species of pigeon from the genus of the American earth dove ( Geotrygon ). It is only known from subfossil material from the Holocene .

Remains of the Puerto Rican pigeon were found in the Cueva Clara and Cueva Catedral caves near Morovis , in the Cueva Toraño cave near Utuado and in a Køkkenmøddinger near Mayagüez on Puerto Rico . The holotype, a tarsometatarsus , was discovered in July 1916 by Harold Elmer Anthony (1890–1970) in the Cueva Clara cave.

According to Alexander Wetmore, the Puerto Rican pigeon was related to the Gundlach pigeon ( Geotrygon caniceps ) found in Cuba and the Dominican Republic . The tarsometatarsus, however, was significantly longer than that of the Gundlach pigeon. Compared to the red earth dove ( Geotrygon montana ), the Puerto Rico pigeon had narrower tarsometatarsi. The number of bones found suggests that the Puerto Rican pigeon must have been widespread before the first settlers arrived on the island. It was probably a victim of widespread deforestation.

literature

  • Alexander Wetmore: Five New Species of Birds from Cave Deposits In Porto Rico In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 1920: p. 79-80
  • Alexander Wetmore: Bird Remains from the Caves of Porto Rico In: Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History No. 46, 1922: p. 316-317
  • Alexander Wetmore: An Additional Record for the Extinct Porto Rican Quail-Dove In: Auk Volume 40 (2), 1923: p. 324
  • Alexander Wetmore: Scientific Survey of Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands . Volume 9, parts 1-4. New York Academy of Sciences, 1927, pp. 405-406
  • Michael Walters & Julian Pender Hume: Extinct Birds . Poiser Monographes (A&C Black), 2012. ISBN 978-140-815-725-1 . P. 147.