Caracara creightoni Brodkorb, 1959b

Suárez, William, 2020, The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba, Zootaxa 4780 (1), pp. 1-53 : 32-33

† Caracara creightoni Brodkorb, 1959b

Bahaman Caracara ; Caraira de las Bahamas

( Figure 13 : A–F; Table 8)

Caracara creightoni Brodkorb, 1959b , Bull. Florida State Mus., Vol. 4, no.11, p. 353.

Referred material. San Felipe I: Premaxillary, MNHNCu 75.4742; shaft of right humerus, MNHNCu 75.4759; left humerus without proximal end, MNHNCu 75.4817; proximal half of left humerus, MNHNCu 75.4818; left carpometacarpus, MNHNCu 75.4819; distal halves of right tibiotarsi, MNHNCu 75.4852-4853; distal ends of right tibiotarsi, MNHNCu 75.4854-4856; shaft of left tibiotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4851; right tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4820, 75.4827 -4828; proximal halves of right tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4844-4847; proximal ends of right tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4848-4850; right tarsometatarsi without proximal ends, MNHNCu 75.4829-4831; distal end of right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4839; left tarsometatarsus without distal end, MNHNCu 75.4840; proximal ends of left tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4841-4843; distal halves of left tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4832-4835; distal ends of left tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4836-4838. San Felipe II: Fragmentary notarium, MNHNCu 75.4579; distal ends of right tibiotarsi, MNHNCu 75.4584-4585; distal ends of left tibiotarsi, MNHN- Cu 75.4580-4583; distal ends of right tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4586-4591; distal ends of left tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4592-4593 .

Description. Caracara creightoni Brodkorb, 1959b , differs from C. cheriway ( von Jacquin, 1784) , C. plancus (J. F. Miller, 1777) and C. lutosa ( Ridgway, 1876) in being of smaller size, but it is slightly large and more robust compared with the extinct C. seymouri Suárez & Olson, 2014 , from South America. Qualitative characters include a large and high premaxillary, laterally compressed (ventral view), with very rounded dorsal arch (lateral view). Dorsally, culmen and bridge (between nasal openings) wide. Distance between nasal openings (which are wide and ovoid in Caracara , circular in species of Milvago ) and tomium, deeper than in the other species. Ulna with large anterior articular ligament scar, tibiotarsus with long fibular crest and wide intercondylar groove. Notarium differs from species of Milvago due to the presence of vertebrae with less bilateral compression. Humerus smaller, with narrow capital groove, rather than wide, as in Milvago . Femur smaller, with shaft thinner at midpoint and well flared at proximal and distal ends. Femoral head less projected proximad, pneumatic foramen large, narrow and more vertical external condyle, and wide intercondylar groove. Tarsometatarsus shorter and relatively robust, with reduced trochlea metatarsi II and not rotated posteriad (large and posteriad rotated in Caracara cheriway , C. plancus and C. lutosa ). These characters have been described by Suárez & Olson (2001b, 2003c).

Comments. This is the most common raptor in Las Breas de San Felipe. Caracara creightoni , was originally described from New Providence, in the Bahamas ( Brodkorb 1959b; Olson & Hilgartner 1982; Steadman et al. 2007), recorded in Cuba ( Suárez & Arredondo 1997), redescribed on the basis of Cuban material and reported for the asphalt deposits treated here ( Suárez & Olson 2001b, 2003c). Fossils of the genus Caracara representing large species are known in the West Indies also from Puerto Rico and Mona Island ( Wetmore 1920; Olson 2008), Cay man Islands ( Morgan 1977, 1994; Olson & Hilgartner 1982), Jamaica ( Olson 2008), and Hispaniola (Olson comm. pers. 2007), evidencing a greater distribution in the Antillean Subregion during the past (see summary of species in Suárez & Olson 2014). The Cayman Islands material, identified as C. creightoni (see Morgan 1977, 1994), represents a different species, larger in size ( Suárez & Olson 2001b, 2003c; Olson 2008). Orihuela (2019:60) considered Milvago sp., registered only for cave deposits in Cuba by Suárez & Arredondo (1997), as a synonym of C. creightoni , mentioning Suárez & Olson (2003c:305) as proponents of this synonymy. This statement is false, since it does not exist in the cited literature, nor was it proposed by the authors.

Figures

FIGURE 13. Caracara creightoni: Rostrum (MNHNCu 75.4742) in lateral (A) and dorsal (B) views; left humerus (MNHNCu 75.4817) in anterior/cranial view (C); left humerus (MNHNCu 75.4818) in anterior/cranial view (D); left carpometacarpus (MNHNCu 75.4819) in ventral view (E); right tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4820) in anterior view (F). Scale = 2 cm.