Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935

Suárez, William, 2020, The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba, Zootaxa 4780 (1), pp. 1-53 : 10

† Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935

Wetmore’s Stork; Cayama de Wetmore

( Figure 4 : B–I)

Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935 , Condor, vol. 37, no. 5 p. 253.

Referred material. San Felipe I: distal end of right tibiotarsus, MNHNCu 75.4603; left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4757; proximal end of left tarsometatarsus (juvenile), MNHNCu 75.4604; distal end of right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4605. San Felipe II: Proximal end of right carpometacarpus, MNHNCu 75.4602.

Description. These fossils were referred to Mycteria (see Suárez & Olson 2003a:151–152) by the diagnostic characters of the genus present in M. americana Linnaeus, 1758 . They coincide with the Wood Stork in most of the qualitative characters, but are larger than in the mentioned species ( Suárez & Olson 2003a: table 1).

Comments. Mycteria wetmorei Howard, 1935 , as in the case of the other species of the Leptoptilini and Mycteriini tribes mentioned, have previously been recorded in paleontological deposits of Cuba only from tar seeps ( Suárez & Olson 2003a). This extinct species differs from M. americana by its larger size ( Fig. 4 ), and by presenting a less arched mandible ( Howard 1935; Olson 1991). The Cuban specimens represent the southernmost record of this palaeospecies and the only one outside the continental mainland ( Suárez & Olson 2003a). The left tarsometatarsus MNHNCu 75.4757, reported herein, expands the Cuban series for this taxon and constitutes the most complete skeletal element known to date of this bird in the archipelago.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Ciconia sp.: Right tibiotarsus (MNHNCu 75.4599) in distal view (A). Mycteria wetmorei: Right carpometacarpus (MNHNCu 75.4602) in ventral view (B); right tibiotarsus (MNHNCu 75.4603) in distal (C) and anterior (D) views; left tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4757) in proximal (E), distal (F), anterior (G), medial (H) and posterior (I) views. Mycteria americana: Right carpometacarpus (MNHNCu 75.4601) in ventral view (J). Scale = 2 cm.