Buteogallus, Lesson, 1830

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 35

16. Buteogallus cf. † B. fragilis (L. Miller, 1911)

Fragile Eagle (Águila Frágil)

Geranoaëtus fragilis L. Miller, 1911 , Univ. California Publ. Bull. Dept. Geol. 6: 315.

Urubitinga fragilis : Howard 1932: 16.

Buteogallus fragilis : Howard 1946: 117.

Holotype.—Left tarsometatarsus, UCMP 12757 ( Miller 1911: 315, fig. 5*: A [proximal], B [anterior]).

Type locality.—Rancho La Brea, Los Angeles, California, USA ( Miller 1911; see Howard 1932, Wetmore 1956: 45, Brodkorb 1964: 269).

Referred material.— Tibiotarsus: distal end of right, MNHNCu 75.4735 (fig. 8I [anterior]). Tarsometatarsus: distal shaft segment of left, MNHNCu 75.4736 (fig. 8J [posterior]). Cited material and figures are from Suárez (2020a).

Distribution.—Asphalt deposits in west Cuba (see Appendix). Matanzas. Martí: MLB (San Felipe II, Suárez 2020a: 17).

Direct 14 C dating .—None in Cuba. 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.—Extremely rare in the archipelago, where unknown outside tar seeps. The Cuban material referred to B. fragilis constitutes the first record of this taxon in the West Indies and outside continental America (Suárez 2020a: 17).