Coragyps seductus, Suárez, 2020

Suárez, William, 2020, The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba, Zootaxa 4780 (1), pp. 1-53 : 12-14

Genus Coragyps Le Maout

† Coragyps seductus sp. nov.

Cuban Black Vulture; Zopilote Cubano

( Figure 6 : A–F; Table 4)

Holotype. Left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4719. Collected in San Felipe II, by William Suárez and Stephen Díaz Franco, on February 24, 2001.

Measurements (mm) of holotype. Total length: 86.0; proximal width: 16.4; least width of the shaft at midpoint: 7.4; distal width: 16.1; depth of trochlea metatarsi II: 7.9+; width and depth of trochlea metatarsi III: 6.7–9.8; depth of trochlea metatarsi IV: 9.1 (see Table 4).

Diagnosis. Similar to Coragyps occidentalis (L. Miller, 1909) in robustness, but having tarsometatarsus slen- der, with noticeable bilateral compression at distal end and trochlea metatarsi III long, thin, and not deep.

Etymology. From Latin seductus , remote, secluded, in reference to the allopatric condition of the Cuban species, given its insularity.

Paratypes (topotypes). San Felipe II: Proximal half of left femur without trochanter, MNHNCu 75.4718; proximal end of left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4720 .

Description. The specimens herein described are referred to Coragyps and split from the remaining genera of Cathartidae from Cuba, Cathartes Illiger and Gymnogyps Lesson ( Suárez 2000a, 2001; Suárez & Emslie 2003), by having a tarsometatarsus with an elongated and relatively less robust shaft, distal end flaring gradually from the shaft, with trochleae compressed bilaterally. Other characters present in the tarsometatarsus that segregate it from Cathartes include those described by Carr (1981:35). Femur and tarsometatarsus ( Fig. 6 A–F) similar in robustness to those of the fossil species Coragyps occidentalis ( Table 4), and slightly more robust than in the examined series of C. atratus Bechstein, 1793 . The femur MNHNCu 75.4718, is fragmentary and coincident in morphology and general characters with both Coragyps species. The fragmentary condition of that specimen does not allow other comparisons. Tarsometatarsus with slender shaft of moderate robustness (shorter and more robust in C. occidentalis ; slender and gracile in C. atratus ), distal end with noticeable bilateral compression (proximal end consistently thin- ner than distal end in C. occidentalis and C. atratus ); trochlea metatarsi III long, thin, and not too deep (deeper in C. occidentalis ; shorter, wider, and deeper in C. atratus ); trochleae metatarsorum II and IV, relatively small, the former well projected posteriad (similar in C. occidentalis ; relatively larger and not projected in C. atratus ).

Comments. Fossils of Coragyps seductus sp. nov. are extremely rare in Cuba, and unknown in other Quaternary deposits in the Cuban archipelago. Tarsometatarsi of C. seductus sp. nov. do not agree in their characters with the equivalent element in skeletons of C. atratus examined (N =18) from North and South America, nor with series of this element in C. occidentalis (N = 42) from asphalt deposits of Rancho La Brea (see Howard 1968). The material described here represents the first record of this genus in fossil deposits of Cuba and the Greater Antilles. A distal fragment of a carpometacarpus (WS s/n), collected by the author in a Quaternary cave deposit at Cueva de Sandoval, Caimito Municipality, Artemisa Province (formerly La Habana Province), before the material described herein, may represent this new taxon, but it lacks sufficient diagnostic characters for a positive identification. As in the case of the Antillean caracaras (see Suárez & Olson 2001b: 507), members of Cathartidae in Cuba during the Pleistocene were represented by endemic species, all extinct today (Suárez 2001; Suárez & Olson unpubl. data). Coragyps has been registered from multiple fossiliferous localities in Florida ( Brodkorb 1964), where it has been common since the late Pliocene ( Emslie 1998:28). A similar case holds for the genus Gymnogyps Lesson and the endemic Cuban Condor ( Suárez & Emslie 2003:36).

The Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus , is very rare in Cuba ( Cory 1891; Danforth 1928; Bruner 1940; Garrido & García Montaña 1975; American Ornithologists’ Union 1998; Raffaele et al. 1998; Fairhurst 1998; Soy & Hartley 1998; Garrido & Kirkconnell 2011), and no collected specimens exist. This species have been rarely observed on the island by the author in localities such as north of Caimito Municipality, Artemisa Province, 1995; Río Hatiguanico, Cienaga de Zapata, Matanzas, 2008; and especially near Itabo, province of Matanzas (Suárez unpubl. data), where resident individuals exist. This population was reported by González et al. (2013). As in the case of other extinct Cuban taxa ( Suárez & Olson 2001b, 2003c, 2014), individuals of C. atratus seems to replace the endemic congeneric fossil species. It is highly desirable to compare Cuban neontological material of Coragyps with specimens of continental populations.

Figures

FIGURE 6. Coragyps seductus sp. nov.: Left tarsometatarsus (Holotype, MNHNCu 75.4719) in anterior (A), posterior (B) and distal (C) views; left tarsometatarsus (Paratype, MNHNCu 75.4720) in proximal (D) view; left femur (Paratype, MNHNCu 75.4718) in anterior (E) and posterior (F) views. Scale = 2 cm.