Colaptes sp.

Orihuela, Johanset, Orozco, Leonel Pérez, Álvarez Licourt, Jorge L., Viera Muñoz, Ricardo A. & Barani, Candido Santana, 2020, Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: Stratigraphy, chronology, diversity, and paleoecology, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 57) 23 (3), pp. 1-46 : 17

Colaptes sp. cf. fernandinae ( Vigors, 1827) or auratus (Linnaeus, 1758)

Figure 5.2

Material. A single, distal tibiotarsus fragment from layer G (level III) (MNHNCu uncatalogued; field number 1693) ( Figure 5.2 ).

Description. This is a weathered specimen with evidence of digestion. It measures in greatest distal width (GDW) 5.01 mm and greatest shaft width (GSW) 2.2 mm.

Taxonomic remarks. This specimen is slightly larger than Melanerpes superciliaris (uncatalogued from this deposit), M. radiolatus (UF 27075), GDW 4.90–4.91 mm, and GSW 1.93–1.95 mm, and Xiphidiopicus percusus (UF 36476: GDW 4.06 mm and GSW 1.6 mm). About similar size or slightly smaller than Colaptes auratus (UF 45035: GDW 5.67 mm and GSW 1.96 mm), which suggests a medium-sized woodpecker (~ 33–35 cm; Short, 1965). In Cuba , the only two woodpeckers that fall within this size category are the endemic Fernandina’s flicker Colaptes fernandinae (~ 34 cm) and the flicker C. auratus (~ 33 cm) (Garrido and Kirkconnell, 2000). Our tibiotarsus (no. 1693) resembles Colaptes more than Melanerpes in having marked and narrower intermuscular line and low (unflattering) fibular crest. The outer cnemial crest is more arched or circular in our specimen, as in Colaptes , and not more open as in Melanerpes . However, we did not compare it directly to C. fernandinae , and thus its identification remains tentative. An additional proximal tibiotarsus (no. 1794; not figured) from layer I (level IV) is similarly attributed to this taxon (O. Jiménez personal commun., 2015, 2018).

Figures

FIGURE 5. Bird fossil and subfossil remains from test pit D. 1, Cathartes aura maxilla in lateral and dorsal view. 2, proximal tibiotarsus of Colaptes cf. fernandinae. 3, the humerus of Psittacara eups. 4, distal coracoid of Progne cf. cryptoleuca or subis. 5, humerus of Tachycineta bicolor (FLMNH-UF 17685); 6, humerus of Tachycineta cf. bicolor. 7, humerus of Geotrygon cf. chrysia. 8, humerus of Sphyrapicus varius. 9, humerus of Melanerpes superciliaris. 10, tarsometatarsus (left) and humerus of Margarobyas lawrencii. 11, humerus of Saurothera merlini. The numbers on specimens are field numbers. Each scale bar represents 10 mm.