Barbados rail
Temporal range: Late Pleistocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Gruiformes
Family:
Rallidae
Genus:
incertae sedis
Synonyms

Fulica podagrica (Brodkorb, 1965) (invalid)

The Barbados rail is a fossil rail species endemic to Barbados with an undetermined taxonomic status.[1] It was formerly described by Pierce Brodkorb in 1965 as Fulica podagrica.[2] However, this classification has been questioned by Storrs Olson when he described Brodkorb's material anew in 1974.[1] It is only known by Brodkorb's holotype which consists of a humerus and several leg elements including femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus fragments.[2] The humerus may not be specifically distinct from those of the American coot (Fulica americana) but most of the femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometarsus fragments are from a yet undescribed larger rail of an undetermined genus not related to Fulica.[2] Olson further assumed that Brodkorb's material might be a composite of several rail species.[2] The bone fragments were unearthed in Late Pleistocene deposits in Saint Philip Parish and Ragged Point on Barbados.[2]

Etymology

Brodkorb's previous species epithet is derived from the Greek term "podagrikos" (which means affected with gout). This applied in allusion to the large size of the leg elements.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Storrs Olson: A new species of Nesotrochis from Hispaniola, with notes on other fossil rails from the West Indies (Aves: Rallidae) In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 87, 38:p 439-450, 1974
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Storrs Olson: A synopsis on the fossil Rallidae In: Sidney Dillon Ripley: Rails of the World - A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. Codline. Boston, 1977. ISBN 0-87474-804-6
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