Puerto Rican quail-dove
Extinct species of quail-dove
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Puerto Rican quail-dove (Geotrygon larva) is an extinct species of dove from the genus of quail-doves Geotrygon. It is only known by subfossil material from the Holocene of Puerto Rico.
| Puerto Rican quail-dove Temporal range: Early Holocene | |
|---|---|
| |
| Bones of the Puerto Rican quail-dove | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Columbiformes |
| Family: | Columbidae |
| Genus: | Geotrygon |
| Species: | †G. larva |
| Binomial name | |
| †Geotrygon larva (Wetmore, 1920) | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Oreopela larva | |
Taxonomy
According to Alexander Wetmore who described this species, it was related to the grey-fronted quail-dove (Geotrygon caniceps), which occurs on Cuba.[1] The tarsometatarsus of the Puerto Rican quail-dove is longer than in the grey-fronted quail-dove. Compared with the ruddy quail-dove (G. montana), which presently occurs on Puerto Rico, the tarsometatarsi are more slender.
Discovery
Remains of the Puerto Rican quail-dove were unearthed in the Cueva Clara and Cueva Catedral near Morovis, in the Cueva Toraño at Utuado, and in a kitchen midden near Mayagüez on Puerto Rico. The holotype, a tarsometatarsus, was discovered in July 1916 by zoologist Harold Elmer Anthony in the Cueva Clara.
Extinction
The large amount of unearthed material led to the assumption that the Puerto Rican quail-dove might have been a common bird before the initial arrival of humans to the island. Its extinction may have been due to deforestation.[citation needed]
.jpg){kind=small}