Puerto Rican quail-dove

The Puerto Rican quail-dove is an extinct species of dove from the genus of quail-doves Geotrygon. It is only known by subfossil material from the Holocene of Puerto Rico.

Taxonomy

According to Alexander Wetmore who described this species, it was related to the grey-fronted quail-dove, which occurs on Cuba. The tarsometatarsus of the Puerto Rican quail-dove is longer than in the grey-fronted quail-dove. Compared with the ruddy quail-dove, which presently occurs on Puerto Rico, the tarsometatarsi are more slender.

Discovery

Remains of the Puerto Rican quail-dove were unearthed in the Cueva Clara and Cueva Catedral near Morovis, in the Cueva Toraño at Utuado, and in a kitchen midden near Mayagüez on Puerto Rico. The holotype, a tarsometatarsus, was discovered in July 1916 by zoologist Harold Elmer Anthony in the Cueva Clara.

Extinction

The large amount of unearthed material led to the assumption that the Puerto Rican quail-dove might have been a common bird before the initial arrival of humans to the island. Its extinction may have been due to deforestation.