Tachycineta cf. bicolor ( Vieillot, 1808 )

Orihuela, Johanset, Orozco, Leonel Pérez, Álvarez Licourt, Jorge L., Viera Muñoz, Ricardo A. & Barani, Candido Santana, 2020, Late Holocene land vertebrate fauna from Cueva de los Nesofontes, Western Cuba: Stratigraphy, chronology, diversity, and paleoecology, Palaeontologia Electronica (a 57) 23 (3), pp. 1-46 : 18

Tachycineta cf. bicolor ( Vieillot, 1808)

Figure 5.6

Material. A complete left humerus (MNHNCu, uncatalogued) from layer G (level III).

Description. The specimen is slightly mineralized, small, and delicate. It measures in GTL 15.3 mm, GDW 5.5 mm, GSW 1.6 mm, and GPW 6.6 mm. ( Figure 5.6 ).

Taxonomic remarks. This specimen is remarkably like the tree swallow T. bicolor , a common transient in Cuba (Garrido and Kirkconnell, 2000, p. 169) . Our specimen agrees well in size and morphology to a male from Indian River, Florida, USA (UF 17685/30932): GTL 15.3–15.4 mm, GDW 4.91– 5.22 mm, GSW 1.62–1.64 mm, and GPW 6.44 mm ( Figure 5.6 ). The ectepicondylar prominence is prominent and grooved at the tip, with a slight lateral extension (rounder, shorter, and attached in Hirundo rustica and hook-like in Progne subis ). The internal condyle entepicondyle is less pronounced than the external condyle, but more than the intercondylar furrow, which is slightly flattened (not in H. rustica or very pronounced in P. subis ). The bicipital furrow and deltoid crest are poorly developed off the main shaft. The capital groove is deeply excavated, unlike Hirundo , which has a double furrow (deep single furrow in Progne ). Thus, we refer it tentatively here to T. bicolor . A direct comparison to the Bahamian tree swallow T. cyaneoviridis was not conducted. However, this taxon is a slightly larger rare winter transient in Cuba (Garrido and Kirkconnell, 2000) . This represents the first paleontological, pre-Columbian record for Cuba .

Figures

FIGURE 5. Bird fossil and subfossil remains from test pit D. 1, Cathartes aura maxilla in lateral and dorsal view. 2, proximal tibiotarsus of Colaptes cf. fernandinae. 3, the humerus of Psittacara eups. 4, distal coracoid of Progne cf. cryptoleuca or subis. 5, humerus of Tachycineta bicolor (FLMNH-UF 17685); 6, humerus of Tachycineta cf. bicolor. 7, humerus of Geotrygon cf. chrysia. 8, humerus of Sphyrapicus varius. 9, humerus of Melanerpes superciliaris. 10, tarsometatarsus (left) and humerus of Margarobyas lawrencii. 11, humerus of Saurothera merlini. The numbers on specimens are field numbers. Each scale bar represents 10 mm.