Falco femoralis Temminck, 1822

Aplomado Falcon; Halcón Aplomado

Falco femoralis Temminck, 1822, Color Planches., Livr. 21, pl. 121.

Referred material. San Felipe I: Right carpometacarpus without minor metacarpal, MNHNCu 75. 4606; right carpometacarpus without distal end and minor metacarpal, MNHNCu 75.4607; distal end of left tibiotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4608; proximal end of left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4609.

Description. These fossils were described by Suárez & Olson (2003b: fig. 1D,E; table 2) and coincide perfectly in size and characters with Falco femoralis Temminck, 1822 . Falco sparverius, F. columbarius Linnaeus, 1758, and the fossil F. kurochkini Suárez & Olson, 2001a, all are smaller species, but the fossils are small in relation to the skeletal elements of F. peregrinus Tunstall, 1777 .

Comments. The fossil material that represents this falcon in Las Breas de San Felipe, the only known from Cuba, was previously recorded by Suárez & Olson (2003b). The species lives on the continent, where it inhabits swampy places and plains (A.O.U. 1998). Its extinction in Cuba is difficult to explain, since this habitat has been present on this archipelago since the Pleistocene.