Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 24-25

8. † Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935

Wetmore’s Stork (Cayama de Wetmore)

Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935 , Condor 37: 253.

Mycteria americana : L. Miller 1910: 446.

Mycteria americana : Campbell 1980: 121.

Mycteria americana : Emslie 1998: table 14.

Holotype.—Fragment of lower mandible, LACM K3527 ( Howard 1935: 253, fig. 47: 1 [lateral], 2 [dorsal]). Collected by members of the Southern California Academy of Sciences ( Howard 1935: 251).

Type locality.—‘North bank of “pool” near Wilshire Boulevard, Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles, California’, USA ( Howard 1935: 253).

Referred material.— Carpometacarpus: proximal end of right, MNHNCu 75.4602 (fig. 1E [internal]). Tibiotarsus: distal end of right, MNHNCu 75.4603 (fig. 1D [distal]). Tarsometatarsus: left, MNHNCu 75.4757 (Suárez 2020a: 10, fig. 4: E [proximal], F [distal], G [anterior], H [medial], I [posterior]); proximal end of left (immature), MNHNCu 75.4604 (fig. 1H [anterior]); distal end of right, MNHNCu 75.4605 (fig. 1F [anterior]). Cited material and figures are from Suárez & Olson (2003a), other than where indicated.

Distribution.—Asphalt deposits in west Cuba (see Appendix). Matanzas. Martí: MLB ( Suárez & Olson 2003a, Suárez 2020a).

Direct 14 C dating .—None in Cuba. 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.—Very rare. M. wetmorei occurred sympatrically with M. americana Linnaeus, 1758 , only in Cuba (contra Kirkconnell et al. 2020: 69) in the tar seep deposits ( Suárez & Olson 2003a). Previous records of Wood Stork in fossil localities of North America, including Florida (see Emslie 1998), represent misidentifications, including of M. wetmorei ( Olson 1991, Suárez & Olson 2003a).