Gracile Goshawk

Accipiter quartus is an extinct bird of prey of the genus Accipiter (Accipiter ), which was native to New Caledonia. It is only known from subfossil remains from the Holocene. The specific epithet quartus for " four " refers to the fact that Accipiter quartus was the fourth Habichtart, which was discovered in New Caledonia.

The holotype, in the Pindai Cave (21 ° 20 'S, 164 ° 57'O ) was discovered on the Nepoui peninsula on the west coast of New Caledonia in 1986, consists of a left femur. The paratypes include the hull near ( proximal ) and hull distant ( distal ) end of the left and the distal end of the right tibiotarsus.

Accipiter quartus was the smallest Habichtart on New Caledonia. The type material suggests a physique that was smaller and much less robust than that of the presumed females, but larger and more robust than that of males suspected of Sydney Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus ). A possibly unique feature of the species is the presence of two pneumatic foramina ( holes in the bone wall as a connection between the air sacs in the hollow bones inside and the air bag system outside of the skeleton ) in the surface of the trochanter, the larger of the two is just below the articular surface of the femoral neck. Are still between the two pneumatic foramina three other very small openings in the Trochanterfläche. All other Accipiter species have only a single large window in this part of the femur.

Aussterbezeitpunkt and cause of Accipiter quartus are not known.