Animal Database

Hi Homo sapien! Welcome to Animal Database! Anyway, did you know that you're 60% genetically similar to banana trees?

READ MORE

Animal Database
Register
Advertisement
Animal Database
Puerto Rican Quail-dove
Geotrygon larva
Bones of the Puerto Rican quail-dove
Information
Range Puerto Rico
Scientific Classification
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Class Aves
Order Columbiformes
Family Columbidae
Genus Geotrygon
Species Geotrygon larva
Conservation Status
EXSpecies
Extinct

The Puerto Rican quail-dove (Geotrygon larva), is an extinct species of dove in the Columbidae family. It is only known by subfossil material from the Holocene.

Remains of the Puerto Rican quail-dove were unearthed in the caves Cueva Clara and Cueva Catedral near Morovis, in the cave 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 cave Cueva Clara.

According to Alexander Wetmore who described this species it was related to the grey-fronted quail-dove (Geotrygon caniceps) which occurs on Cuba and on the Dominican Republic. However, the tarsometatarsus of the Puerto Rican quail-dove is longer than in the grey-fronted quail-dove. Compared with the ruddy quail-dove (Geotrygon montana), which occurs on Puerto Rico too, the tarsometatarsi are more slender.

The amount of the unearthed material led to the assumption that the Puerto Rican quail-dove might have been a common bird before the arrival of the first settlers. Probably it became a victim of the extensive deforestations.

Advertisement