Rallus

Alcover, Josep Antoni, Pieper, Harald, Pereira, Fernando & Rando, Juan Carlos, 2015, Five new extinct species of rails (Aves: Gruiformes: Rallidae) from the Macaronesian Islands (North Atlantic Ocean), Zootaxa 4057 (2), pp. 151-190 : 171

Rallus sp. A

Graciosa rail [ Figure 19 B]

The material from Graciosa consists of 21 bones (12 in a fragmentary condition). These bones probably also belong to an endemic species, convergent with the Pico rail, but we refer to them only as an indeterminate species of Rallus because the available material is insufficient to clearly establish its specific distinction from other taxa.

Material and collection information: Furna do Calcinhas: MCMa 1961.014, L hum; MCMa 1962.014, R hum frag; MCMa 1963.014, R hum frag; MCMa 1964.014, L cmc; MCMa 1965.014, R fem; MCMa 1966.014, R fem; MCMa 1967.014, L fem frag; MCMa 1968.014, L tmt; MCMa 1969.014, R cor; MCMa 1970.014, L cor; MCMa 1971.014, L cor; MCMa 1972.014, R cor frag; MCMa 1973.014, R cor frag; MCMa 1974.014, L cor frag; MCMa 1975.014, L cor frag juv; MCMa 1976.014, L cor frag juv; MCMa 1977.014, man frag; MCMa 1978.014, man frag; MCMa 1979.014, pmx frag; MCMa 1980.014, pmx frag; MCMa 1981.014, sku frag; MCMa 1982.014, L tbt frag.

All the material obtained on Graciosa was collected on 16–20 Sept 2014 by ET, FP and JAA.

Age: Holocene-Recent.

Known distribution: Graciosa, Central Azores.

Measurements: See Table 1.

Figures

FIGURE 19. Bones of Rallus sp. A from Graciosa (B) and Rallus sp. B from Terceira (C) compared with the same bones of Rallus montivagorum n. sp. from Pico (A). From L to R: Humerus, caudal view: MCMa 1943.014; MCMa 1961.04 (L humerus, specular image), MCMa 1821.013. Ulna, dorsal view: MCMa 1867, MCMa 1821 (L ulna, specular image). Carpometacarpus, ventral view: MCMa 1856, MCMa 1821.013 (L carpometacarpus, specular image), MCMa 1964.014. Coracoid, dorsal view: MCMa 1918, MCMa 1969.014, MACa 1825. Femur, cranial view: MCMa 1880, MCMa 1965.014, MCMa 1822 (L femur, specular image). Tibiotarsus, cranial view: IMEDEA 104097, MCMa 1982.014, MCMa 1821.013. Tarsometatarsus, dorsal view: MCMa 1949, MCMa 1968.014 (L tarsometatarsus, specular image), MCMa 1820.013. Scale bar: 2 cm.