Buteogallus borrasi ( Arredondo, 1970 )

Suárez, William, 2020, The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba, Zootaxa 4780 (1), pp. 1-53 : 16-17

† Buteogallus borrasi ( Arredondo, 1970)

Borras’ Hawk; Gavilán de Borras

( Figure 8 : A–H; Table 5)

Aquila borrasi Arredondo, 1970 , Cienc. Biol. Univ. Habana, 8, p. 3.

Referred material. San Felipe I: Distal end of right tibiotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4678; distal ends of left tibiotarsi, MNHNCu 75.4665, MNHNCu 75.4693; left tarsometatarsus without trochleae, MNHNCu 75.4666; left tarsometatarsus lacking proximal articular region and trochleae metatarsorum II and III , MNHNCu 75.4667; proximal half of left tarsometatarsus without inner calcaneal ridge of the hypotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4686; proximal end of left tarsometatarsus without calcaneal ridges of the hypotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4692; distal halves of left tarsometatarsi, MNHNCu 75.4687-4688; fragmentary distal end of left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4691; proximal end of right tarsometatarsus without inner calcaneal ridge of the hypotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4677; proximal segment of shaft of a right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4669; distal end of right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4670; distal ends of right tarsometatarsi without trochlea metatarsi III, MNHNCu 75.4689-4690; distal shaft of right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4668; left metatarsal I, MNHNCu 75.4694; right metatarsal I, MNHNCu 75.4682; phalanx 1, left digit I, MNHNCu 75.4697; phalanx 1 without distal end, left digit I, MNHNCu 75.4671; phalanges 1, right digits I, MNHNCu 75.4695-4696; ungual phalanges, left digits I, MNHNCu 75.4672, 75.4684 -4685; ungual phalanx, right digit I, MNHNCu 75.4683; ungual phalanges, left digits II , MNHNCu 75.4679-4680; ungual phalanges, right digits II, MNHNCu 75.4673-4676; ungual left, MNHNCu 75.4681, and right, MNHNCu 75.4707, phalanges of digit III.

Description. General morphology as in Buteogallus urubitinga ( Gmelin, 1788) , but about a 33% larger. For a more detailed description see Suárez (2004a), and Suárez & Olson (2007, 2009b).

Measurements. See Suárez & Olson (2007: tables 1–4); Table 6.

Comments. Buteogallus borrasi ( Arredondo, 1970) was recorded for this locality by Iturralde-Vinent et al. (2000), and the material under study was described by Suárez & Olson (2007, 2009b). This is the most common accipitrid found in Quaternary deposits along the Cuban archipelago ( Suárez 2004a:124; Suárez & Olson 2007: 296), and also in Las Breas de San Felipe. Wetmore (1928: 3–4, figs. 1–2), recorded Geranoaetus melanoleucus ( Vieillot, 1819) for Cuba, on the basis of an incomplete left carpometacarpus (AMNH 6190)—plus an ungual phalanx without catalog number—from the thermal baths of Ciego Montero, Palmira Municipality, Cienfuegos Province, noting that it “is exactly similar to Geranoaëtus [sic.] melanoleucus and is identified as that species”. Given the carpometacarpus of B. borrasi is about the size of ( G. melanoleucus in square brackets: Proximal width, 8.3–8.4 (8.3) 2 [7.3–8.5 (7.7) 8]; proximal depth, 21.1–22.1 (21.6) 2 [17.8–21.8 (20.1) 8]; depth of metacarpal II at midpoint, 5.7 [4.9–5.6 (5.1) 4].) and very similar in characters to the same element in G. melanoleucus (Suárez unpubl. data), it seems that AMNH 6190 represents the very common Borras’ Hawk, instead of the species recorded in 1928. Unfortunately, at the present stage, the specimens in AMNH have not been located.

Figures

FIGURE 8. Buteogallus borrasi: Left tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4686) in anterior (A), posterior (B) and proximal (C) views; left tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4687) in posterior (D) view; left tibiotarsus (MNHNCu 75.4665) in anterior (E) and distal (F) views; phalanx I, digit I (MNHNCu 75.4696) in plantar (G) view; ungual phalanx, digit II (MNHNCu 75.4679) in lateral (H) view. Buteogallus cf. B. fragilis: Right tibiotarsus (MNHNCu 75.4735) in anterior (I) view; left tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4736) in posterior (J) view. Scale = 2 cm.