Gigantohierax suarezi Arredondo & Arredondo, 2002

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 32-34

14. † Gigantohierax suarezi Arredondo & Arredondo, 2002

Suárez’s Giant Eagle (Águila Gigante de Suárez)

Gigantohierax suarezi Arredondo & Arredondo, 2002a , Poeyana 470–475: 10 [for 1999].

Aquila borrasi : Arredondo 1970a: 3 (part).

Titanohierax borrasi : Olson & Hilgartner 1982: 28 (part).

History.— July 1954: first material collected by members of SEC in a cave deposit in western Cuba ( Arredondo 1955: 29, 1958: 11, 1961: 20, 1964: 19, 1970a: 1–2, 1971: 94). December 1955: a drawing of an ungual phalanx, digit I, is labelled ‘ave prehistórica, tal vez andadora’ [‘prehistoric bird, maybe a walker’] ( Arredondo 1955: 26). July 1958: an incomplete right femur and the same ungual phalanx are figured and tentatively identified as a supposed larger species of terror bird than Ornimegalonyx oteroi (see Arredondo 1958). The length of the phalanx is compared to one of ‘ Phororhacos longissimus ’ ( Arredondo 1958: 11) . 27 March 1959: B. Patterson (MCZ, in litt. to O. Arredondo) mentions a large eagle identified (see ‘Notes’) among Cuban material sent to him for study ( Arredondo 1964: 21, 1970a: 2). 1961: first published notice in Cuba of an extinct eagle from the island ( Arredondo 1961: 20; see also Arredondo 1964: 19, 21, 90). January 1970: original description of ‘ Aquila ’ borrasi published ( Arredondo 1970a) based on a composite type series including some specimens at MCZ ( Arredondo 1970a: 3–4, see Buteogallus borrasi ). 5 August 1982: species transferred to extinct genus Titanohierax Wetmore ( Olson & Hilgartner 1982: 28) . 16 February 1995: Jesús Martínez González and WS collect the holotype ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9). 13 December 2002: original description (not ‘ 26 May 1999 ’, see ‘Notes’ under Oscaravis olsoni ) of Gigantohierax suarezi is published ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10). The type series includes some large specimens at MCZ, formerly described as ‘ Aquila ’ borrasi . 22 May 2020: first record in asphalt deposits, with description of previously unknown skeletal elements (Suárez 2020a: 22–25).

Holotype.—Left femur, MNHNCu 75.574, original number ‘MNHNH. P-574’ ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10, figs. 1* [anterior], 3*A [posterior]; see Díaz-Franco 2004: 156, Herrera-Uria et al. 2015: 114). Collected 16 February 1995 by Jesús Martínez González and WS in the deposit known as El Sumidero (see Suárez 2000b) at the type locality ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9). The holotype was not ‘discovered since the late 1950s’ (contra Orihuela 2019: 60).

Other material.— Femur: right lacking trochanter and condyles, SEC P-26, at MCZ ( Arredondo 1958: 12, fig. left unnumbered: top [anterior], 1964: 19, fig. left unnumbered: right [anterior], 1970a: 4, fig. 7 [anterior], 1971: 96, fig. top left unnumbered: A, left [anterior], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9–10, fig. 2* [anterior]). Tarsometatarsus: three shaft fragments of right, WS 80120.E. Phalanges: ungual phalanx, digit I, SEC P-31, at MCZ ( Arredondo 1955: 27, fig. unnumbered*: centre [lateral], 1958: 10, fig. left unnumbered*: 2 [lateral], 12, fig. left unnumbered: middle right [lateral], 1970a: 4, fig. 3A [lateral], 1971: 96, fig. top left unnumbered: A, top [lateral], bottom* [lateral], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9–10, fig. 4A*:[lateral]).

Type locality.— Cueva de Sandoval ( ASA), c. 4 km south of Vereda Nueva, municipality of Caimito, Artemisa [formerly La Habana] province, Cuba ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10). Fig. 6 .

Distribution.—Cave, asphalt and sinkhole deposits in west and central Cuba (see Appendix). Artemisa. Caimito: ACP ( Arredondo 1955: 26 [‘ave prehistórica, tal vez andadora’], 1958: 11 [‘especie mucho mayor’], 1964: 19 [‘Aguila cubana de la prehistoria’], 1970a: 4 [‘ Aquila borrasi sp. nov. ’(part)], figs. 5*A= ungual phalanx [lateral], 9* = ungual phalanx [lateral], see ‘Notes’ under Buteogallus borrasi ; 1971: 96 [‘ Aquila borrasi (part)’], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 9–10; WS unpubl.), ASA = type locality ( Suárez 2000b: table 1 [‘ Accipitridae indeterminate’], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10 [‘ Gigantohierax suarezi n. gen., n. sp. ’]), ACF ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10). Mayabeque. Quivicán: YIN (WS unpubl.). Matanzas. Jagüey Grande: MFJ (WS unpubl.), Martí: MLB (Suárez 2020a, fig. 11 = humerus: A [palmar], B [anconal], C = carpometacarpus [external], D = tarsometatarsus [distal], E [idem: anterior], F [idem: medial], G [idem: posterior], H = digit I, phalanx 1 [dorsal], I = ungual phalanx, digit I [lateral]). Villa Clara. Sagua La Grande: VCB (WS unpubl.).

Direct 14 C dating .—None. For dating of other bird species at MLB, see Antigone cubensis , Gymnogyps varonai and Ornimegalonyx oteroi , and of associated extinct mammals ( Parocnus browni = 11,880 ± 420 to 4,960 ± 280 years 14 C BP), see Jull et al. (2004) and Steadman et al. (2005).

Notes.—Common in Cuban Quaternary deposits. This taxon is the largest Accipitridae ever known from the Americas, larger than the living Harpy Eagle Harpia harpyja ( Linnaeus, 1758) or any of the extinct described species there ( Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: 10, Suárez 2020a: 22); the genus seems to have been also present on Hispaniola (Suárez 2020a: 25). Another paratype of Aquila (= Buteogallus ) borrasi , the ungual phalanx GEC unnumbered, at CZACC, from ACP ( Arredondo 1970a: 4), is referred herein to G. suarezi (see ‘Notes’ under B. borrasi ). According to B. Patterson’s notes comparing fossil material from Cuba with museum specimens, femur SEC P-26 (see ‘Other material’) was considered by him as a ‘Giant Cuban Cathartid’, instead of ‘Accipitridae’, as he identified other bones in the sample. Arredondo correctly assumed (contra Patterson’s notes) that the largest femur was an Accipitridae (now G. suarezi ), and included it in the type series of ‘ Aquila ’ borrasi (see Arredondo 1970a: 4, Arredondo 1984: 11). On the other hand, the skeleton of G. suarezi is similar to some Old World vultures in characters ( Suárez & Olson 2021: 264, Suárez et al. unpubl.), which confused B. Patterson to the point that he considered the large Cuban femur as belonging to a cathartid. A more complete study of the anatomy and relationships of this taxon will be presented elsewhere (Suárez et al. unpubl.).