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| Cathartes emsliei Suárez & Olson, 2020 |
Abstract
A new small fossil species of vulture from Quaternary asphalt and cave deposits in western Cuba is described herein. Some specimens of this taxon are the smallest known in the genus Cathartes, including the modern Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture C. burrovianus. The extinction of the Cuban megafauna, coupled with the loss of open habitats once dominated by grassland savannas, contributed to the population decline and final extinction of endemic vultures in Cuba during the Holocene.
Systematic paleontology
Class AVES Linnaeus
Order CATHARTIFORMES Coues
Family CATHARTIDAE Lafresnaye
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| Figure 3. Tarsometatarsi in two species of the genus Cathartes, in anterior (A–C, G–H) and posterior (D–F, I–J) views. Cathartes emsliei: paratype proximal right (A, D) WS 778, holotype proximal left (B, E) MNHNCu 75.4752, paratype distal left (G, I) MNHNCu 75.4751, paratype distal half of right (H, J) MNHNCu 75.4746 (images E, G and I are reversed to facilitate comparisons). C. burrovianus: right (C, F) USNM 622341. Scale = 1 cm (William Suárez) |
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| Figure 4. Hypothetical reconstruction of Emslie's Vulture Cathartes emsliei Illustration: William Suárez |
Genus Cathartes Illiger
The new species agrees with the genus Cathartes and differs from Coragyps by having tarsometatarsus with short and relatively wider shaft, more compressed anteroposteriorly, anterior metatarsal groove well extended distad, and trochleae shorter and flaring abruptly from shaft. It differs from Gymnogyps Lesson, 1842, which is known from the Cuban fossil record, and agrees with Cathartes, in characters described by Emslie (1988).
Cathartes emsliei sp. nov.
Emslie's Vulture; Aura de Emslie
‘Cathartes? sp.': Suárez (2000a: 120). ‘referable to Cathartes': Suárez (2001: 110).
‘a small species of vulture': Suárez (2004: 124).
‘Cathartes sp.': Suárez (2020: 14).
Diagnosis.—A small species of Cathartes differing from C. burrovianus by having coracoid with reduced glenoid facet, wider and deeper anterior intercondylar fossa of the tibiotarsus, and tarsometatarsus with base of throchlea II wider in posterior view.
Etymology.—Named for our esteemed colleague and friend, Dr Steven D. Emslie, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA, in recognition of his contribution to the knowledge of New World vultures, including those from Cuba.
William Suárez and Storrs L. Olson. 2020. A New Fossil Vulture (Cathartidae: Cathartes) from Quaternary Asphalt and Cave Deposits in Cuba. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club. 140(3); 335-343. DOI: 10.25226/bboc.v140i3.2020.a6