A new fossil raptor (Accipitridae: Buteogallus) from Quaternary cave deposits in Cuba and Hispaniola, West Indies

Abstract

A large, extinct species of Buteogallus Lesson is described from post-cranial elements in Quaternary cave deposits in western Cuba and south-central Hispaniola. The new taxon was approximately the same size as females of the extinct continental B. woodwardi, but more robust. Some fossils, recently documented from Hispaniola as Accipitridae genus and species indeterminate, are probably referable to taxa previously known from Cuba, including the new species described herein. Osteological comparisons of both living and extinct species indicate that the extinct genus Amplibuteo Campbell is synonymous with Buteogallus.