Jamaican caracara

Jamaican caracara
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Subfamily: Polyborinae
Genus: Caracara
Species: C. tellustris
Binomial name
Caracara tellustris
Olson, 2008

The Jamaican caracara Caracara tellustris is a prehistoric species of terrestrial bird in the falcon family, Falconidae. It was native to the island of Jamaica in the Caribbean, where it probably inhabited dry forests in the island's south. The Jamaican caracara was large and had diminished wings; it was probably mostly terrestrial and may have been flightless. Caracara tellustris became extinct during the Quaternary extinction event. This species was described based on fossils discovered in the Skeleton Cave in the Jackson's Bay Cave system on the south coast of Portland Ridge.[1]

References

  1. Olson, Storrs L. (2008). "A New Species of Large, Terrestrial Caracara from Holocene Deposits in Southern Jamaica (Aves: Falconidae)". Journal of Raptor Research (The Raptor Research Foundation) 42 (4): 265–272. doi:10.3356/JRR-08-18.1.


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