Puerto Rican Crow
The Puerto Rico - crow ( Corvus pumilis ) is an extinct Singvogelart from the family of corvids ( Corvidae ). She was a medium-sized representatives of the ravens and crows and lived in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Over the life of the species is little known. They probably died out with the human occupation of the islands.
Features
From the Puerto Rico Crow only subfossil Ellen and a tibiotarsus have survived. The former are 68 mm long and thus lie between the formerly sympatric Antilles Crow (C. leucognaphalus ) with 76-78 mm and that of the hispaniolischen Palm Crow (C. palmarum ) with about 62 mm. In its shape resembles the ulna of C. pumilis of the Palm Crow. The same applies to the tibiotarsus of the kind which is 78 mm slightly larger than the Palm Crow and slightly smaller than that of the Antilles crow.
Dissemination
Remains of Puerto Rico Crow found on Puerto Rico and the island of St. Croix, which is one of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Way of life
Can only be speculated about the habit of the species. Since they seemed to Puerto Rico together with the Antilles Crow, they probably occupied a different ecological niche than this, and perhaps was rather before the island lowlands.
Systematics and Taxonomy
The first remains of Puerto Rico Crow were found in 1916 in the Cueva San Miguel near Morovis Puerto Rico. It was a right ulna (AMNH 4925), the Alexander Wetmore 1920 heranzog as holotype for his first description of the species Corvus pumilis. For the etymology of the Artepithetons pumilis Wetmore is not expressed; the word in Latin means " dwarf ". About the relationships of the Puerto Rican crow crows to other species within and outside the Caribbean, there is as yet no evidence.
Extinction
The Puerto Rico Crow apparently disappeared early on. In Puerto Rico it is only known from fossil sites from the period before colonization; on St. Croix, she found herself on a hotplate from pre-Columbian times, whose age is estimated to be 500 to 800 years. She probably died before the arrival of Europeans in the Caribbean.