Siphonorhis daiquiri Olson, 1985

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 15-17

1. † Siphonorhis daiquiri Olson, 1985

Cuban Pauraque (Torico Cubano)

Siphonorhis daiquiri Olson, 1985 , Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 98: 528.

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

Siphonornis daiquiri : Z elenkov & González 2020: 416 (lapsus calami).

History.— February 1917: Harold E. Anthony collects first material at type locality (see Anthony 1917, 1919). October 1980: field work by S. L. Olson et al. provides the holotype and some paratypes ( Olson 1985: 528–530). 1982: two additional specimens identified (April) by Olson, previously collected by E. N. Kurochkin in Camagüey province ( Olson 1985: 529, see Olson & Kurochkin 1987: 354). First mentioned as ‘ Siphonorhis sp. ’ by Acevedo-González & Arredondo (1982: table 1). 16 May 1985: original description of S. daiquiri published ( Olson 1985). Autumn 2000: first record from western Cuba, in El Sumidero, Cueva de Sandoval, Artemisa (formerly La Habana) province, an apparently older deposit than the type locality ( Suárez 2000b: 67). April 2004: reported from Cueva El Abrón, its westernmost known fossil locality ( Suárez 2004b: 156), in the mountains of Pinar del Río province (see Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003).

Holotype.—Distal half of right tarsometatarsus, USNM 336506—not ‘Right proximal humerus (USNM 336506)’ as stated by Orihuela (2019: 64) —( Olson 1985: 528, fig. 1: A [anterior], B [posterior], fig. 2: B [posterior]). Collected 31 October 1980 by S. L. Olson et al. [= Jim Lynch, Nicasio Viña and Fernando González (S. L. Olson in litt. 2015)] ( Olson 1985: 528).

Other material.— Coracoid: left, USNM 336507. Humerus: right, AMNH 21905 ( Olson 1985: 529, fig. 3: B [anconal]), AMNH 21906; right lacking distal end, AMNH 21907; proximal ends of right, AMNH 21908, USNM 336508; proximal end of left, USNM 336509; left lacking proximal end, AMNH 21909. Carpometacarpus: right lacking minor metacarpal, AMNH 21904; proximal end of left, USNM 336510. AMNH material collected by H. E. Anthony in 1917 ( Olson 1985: 529, see ‘History’).

Type locality.—Cueva de los Indios ( SCI), near Daiquirí, c. 22 km east-southeast of Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba province, Cuba ( Olson 1985: 528; see Anthony 1917, 1919). Fig. 2.

Distribution.—Cave deposits across the main island of Cuba (see Appendix). Pinar del Río. Los Palacios: PEA ( Suárez 2004b: 156). Artemisa. Caimito: ASA ( Suárez 2000b: 66, fig. 3 = tarsometatarsus: A [anterior], B [posterior], fig. 4 = idem: A [anterior]). Mayabeque. Quivicán: YBL ( Jiménez Vázquez et al. 2005: 97–98). Camagüey. Sierra de Cubitas: CFO ( Olson 1985: 529). Santiago de Cuba. Santiago de Cuba: SCI = type locality ( Olson 1985: 528–529 [‘ Siphonorhis daiquiri , new species’], Arredondo 1996: 1).

Direct 14 C dating .—None. For dating of associated fauna from PEA (17,406 ± 161 14 C yr BP) and YBL (7,864 ± 96 14 C yr BP), see Suárez & Díaz-Franco (2003: 373) and Jiménez Vázquez et al. (2005: 90), respectively.

Notes.—Not rare in cave deposits containing relatively ancient barn owl pellets (cf. Tyto furcata and T. noeli ). Genus Siphonorhis is endemic to the Greater Antilles and a primitive caprimulgid stock, being one of the most ancient members of the West Indies avifauna ( Olson 1978, 1985). The extinct (but see Olson 1985: 531, Suárez 2000b: 68) Cuban Pauraque was first mentioned by Acevedo-González & Arredondo (1982: table 1) as ‘ Siphonorhis sp. ’, without reference to specimens or locality, based on information supplied by S. L. Olson (O. Arredondo pers. comm.). Subsequently, it was deleted without comment in Arredondo (1984: 30). Three species are known in Siphonorhis (not ‘ S. noctitherus † in Puerto Rico’ as appears in Kirkconnell et al. 2020: 65), distributed on Hispaniola including Gonâve Island (Least Pauraque S. brewsteri [ Chapman, 1917]; see Garrido 2003, Keith et al. 2003, Latta et al. 2006), Jamaica (Jamaican Pauraque † S. americana [ Linnaeus, 1758], see Olson & Steadman 1977, Downer & Sutton 1990, AOU 1998) and Cuba (Cuban Pauraque † S. daiquiri ). The latter is intermediate in size compared to the two other species ( Olson 1985: 530, see Olson & Steadman 1977: 456).