Buteogallus borrasi (Arredondo, 1970)

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 35-37

17. † Buteogallus borrasi (Arredondo, 1970)

Borrás’s Hawk (Gavilán de Borrás)

Aquila borrasi Arredondo, 1970a (part), Cienc. Biol. Univ. Habana (4)8: 3.

Aquila borrasi : Arredondo 1970a: 3 (part).

Aquila borraιsι: Acevedo González et al. 1975: VIII (typographical error).

Aquila sp. : Fischer 1977: 214.

Sarcoramphus sp. : Acevedo-González & Arredondo 1982: table 1.

Titanohierax borrasi : Olson & Hilgartner 1982: 28 (part).

Sarcoramphus sp. ?: Arredondo 1984: 9.

Aquila sp. : Arredondo 1984: 12.

Titaniohierax borrasi : Milberg & Tylberg 1993: 243 (lapsus calami).

Sarcoramphus ? sp.: Suárez 2000a: 120.

Tytanohierax borrasi : Vergara 2003: 454 (lapsus calami).

Aquila borrage : Newton 2003: 267 (lapsus calami).

‘ Aquila ’ borrasi : Suárez 2004a: 121.

Buteogallus borrasi : Suárez & Olson 2008: 289.

Buteogallus borras : Hunt & Lucas 2018: 285 (lapsus calami).

Aguila borrasi : Orihuela 2019: 60 (lapsus calami).

History.— 27 March 1959: B. Patterson (MCZ, in litt. to O. Arredondo) reports a large eagle identified in the Cuban material sent to him for study ( Arredondo 1964: 21). 1961: first published notification in Cuba about the presence of an extinct eagle on the island ( Arredondo 1961: 20; see Arredondo 1964: 19, 21, 90). February 1968: Noel González Gotera and Arredondo collect the holotype in a cave deposit in western Cuba ( Arredondo 1970a: 2). January 1970: original description of Aquila borrasi published ( Arredondo 1970a), based on a composite type series including material at MCZ ( Arredondo 1970a: 3–4, see Gigantohierax suarezi ). 5 August 1982: species transferred to the extinct genus Titanohierax Wetmore ( Olson & Hilgartner 1982: 28) . December 2000: first record in Cuban asphalt deposits ( Iturralde-Vinent et al. 2000: table 2). 13 December 2002: two large specimens of the type series included in the original description of Gigantohierax suarezi ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a). April 2004: generic position of Titanohierax borrasi questioned by Suárez (2004a: 124). 2008: Borrás’s Hawk redescribed on basis of additional fossil material and reassigned to Buteogallus ( Suárez & Olson 2008: 289) .

Holotype.—Left tarsometatarsus lacking distal end, DPUH 1250 ( Arredondo 1970a: 4, fig. 1 [anterior], 1971: 96, fig. top left unnumbered: A, centre [anterior], 1976: fig. 3 [anterior]). Collected 11 February 1968 by Noel González Gotera and Oscar Arredondo at the type locality ( Arredondo 1970a: 4), in a place known as ‘Bolsón de los Huesos del Salón del Depósito’ (see Acevedo González et al. 1975: 16, 18, figs. 4–5).

Other material.— Phalanges: pedal phalanx, OA 674 (1000B), at CZACC ( Arredondo 1970a: 15, fig.5*: C [lateral], D [dorsal]); ungual phalanx, digit IV, SEC P-32, at MCZ ( Arredondo 1970a: 4, fig. 5*: B [lateral]); ungual phalanx, digit IV, OA 675 (1000A), at CZACC ( Arredondo 1970a: 14, fig. 4 [lateral]). Three specimens, a femur and two ungual phalanges, formerly paratypes of ‘ Aquila ’ borrasi , represent Gigantohierax suarezi (see ‘History’ and ‘Notes’). Other material mentioned in the original description at MCZ ( Arredondo 1970a: 2, fig. 3: B [lateral], C [lateral], see Olson & Hilgartner 1982: 28), need re-evaluation.

Type locality.—Cueva del Túnel ( YTU), c. 3 km south-east of La Salud, municipality of Quivicán, Mayabeque [formerly La Habana] province, Cuba ( Arredondo 1970a: 4, see Acevedo González et al. 1975: 18). Fig. 7.

Distribution.—Cave, asphalt and sinkhole deposits in west and central Cuba (see Appendix). Artemisa. Caimito: ACP ( Arredondo 1970a: 4 [‘ Aquila borrasi sp. nov. ’ (part), see ‘Notes’]; 1972a: table 1 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’ (part)], 1972c: table 1 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’ (part)], 1975: 151 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’ (part)], 1984: 11 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’ (part)], 12 [‘ Aquila sp. ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 290–291, fig. 1: A = tarsometatarsus [anterior], fig. 2: A = humerus [anconal], B = ulna [palmar], fig. 3: C = tarsometatarsus [anterior], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: table 1 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’]), ASA ( Suárez 2000b: table 1 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 291, fig. 3: E = tibiotarsus [anterior], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: table 1 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’]). Bauta: ALA ( Fischer 1977: 214 [‘ Aquila sp. ’], Arredondo 1984: 12 [‘ Aquila sp. ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 291). La Habana. Boyeros: HCI ( Arredondo 1984: 9–10 [‘ Sarcoramphus sp. ?’, reidentified by Suárez 2001b: 110, as ‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’, fig. 1* = ulna: A [internal], B [external], C [distal], see section III, Suárez & Olson 2008: 291). Mayabeque. Quivicán: YTU = type locality ( Arredondo 1970a: 3–4 [‘ Aquila borrasi sp. nov. ’], 1971: 96 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’], 1972a: table 1 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’], 1975: 154 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’], Acevedo González et al. 1975: 18 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’], Arredondo 1976: 175 [‘ Aquila borrasi ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 291), YIN ( Suárez & Olson 2008: 291), YBL ( Suárez & Olson 2008: 291, fig. 2 = tibiotarsus [anterior]). San José de las Lajas: YCI ( Jiménez Vázquez & Valdés Ruiz 1995: 62 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’], Rojas Consuegra et al. 2012: 6, 10 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 291), YCC ( Jiménez & Orihuela 2021: 169). Matanzas. Martí: MLB ( Iturralde-Vinent et al. 2000: table 2 [‘ Titanohierax borrasi ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 291–293, Suárez & Olson 2009b, fig. 1: C = tarsometatarsus [anterior], Suárez 2020a: 16–17, fig. 8 = tarsometatarsus: A [anterior], B [posterior], C [proximal], D = tarsometatarsus [posterior], E = tibiotarsus [anterior], F = idem [distal], G = digit I, phalanx 1 [plantar], H = ungual phalanx, digit II [lateral]). Villa Clara. Corralillo: VSM ( Suárez & Olson 2008: 293). Sagua La Grande: VHC ( Suárez & Olson 2008: 293). Sancti Spíritus. Yaguajay: SPF ( Arredondo 1984: 12 [‘ Aquila sp. ’], Suárez & Olson 2008: 293). Jatibonico: SPL ( Aranda et al. 2017: 115 [on p. 118 as ‘ Buteogallus sp. ’], fig. 1E = digit I, phalanx 1 [ventral], Martínez-López 2019: fig. 5f–g = digit I, phalanx 1: f [ventral], g [dorsal]).

Direct 14 C dating .—None. For dating of other bird species at MLB, see Antigone cubensis , Gymnogyps varonai and Ornimegalonyx oteroi , and of associated extinct mammals ( Parocnus browni = 11,880 ± 420 to 4,960 ± 280 years 14 C BP), see Jull et al. (2004) and Steadman et al. (2005).

Notes.—The commonest extinct Accipitridae in Cuban fossil deposits ( Suárez 2004a, Suárez & Olson 2008, Suárez 2020a). Originally described in Aquila Brisson ( Arredondo 1970a), transferred to Titanohierax Wetmore ( Olson & Hilgartner 1982) , and finally redescribed under Buteogallus ( Suárez & Olson 2008) , this is an extinct eagle-size hawk with general morphology resembling the living B. urubitinga J. F. Gmelin, 1788 , but c.33% larger. Material from CCM identified by Wetmore (1928: 3–4) as Geranoaetus melanoleucus (Vieillot, 1819) probably is this species (Suárez 2020a: 17, see section II). Arredondo (1984: 11) commented about some femora from PPD (see also Arredondo 1976: 175) that ‘parecen corresponder a esta especie’ [‘seem to correspond to this species’]. I have found no evidence, until now, of large Accipitridae at this locality. The paratype ungual phalanx, digit I, GEC unnumbered, at CZACC, from ACP (see Arredondo 1970a: 4, figs. 5*A, 9* [not figures of SEC P-31, contra Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9], table 2), is re-identified herein as Gigantohierax suarezi , based on its size and characters. Material recorded as ‘ Titanohierax cf. T. gloveralleni ’, from Crab Cave, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands ( Morgan 1994: 479–480, fig. 22.5A = mandible [dorsal]), seems to represent one of the large, extinct species of Buteogallus now known from Cuba, including Borrás’s Hawk ( Suárez 2004a, Suárez & Olson 2008, 2021).