Bermuda flicker

Last updated

Bermuda flicker
Status iucn3.1 EX.svg
Extinct  (1623)  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Piciformes
Family: Picidae
Genus: Colaptes
Species:
C. oceanicus
Binomial name
Colaptes oceanicus
Olson, 2013 [2]

The Bermuda flicker (Colaptes oceanicus) is an extinct woodpecker from the genus Colaptes . It was confined to Bermuda and is known only by fossil remains dated to the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. However, an old travel report by explorer Captain John Smith from the 17th century may also refer to this species.

Extinction

Though most material is from Late Pleistocene deposits unearthed by Storrs L. Olson, David B. Wingate and others in the Admirals Cave, the Wilkinson Quarry and in the Walsingham Sink Cave in Hamilton Parish in Bermuda in 1981, there is one bone, a tarsometatarsus from a juvenile, which is from a Holocene layer in the Spittal Pond. This fact, and an old travel report by John Smith from 1623, may lead to the possibility that this species just may have persisted until at least the early colonization of Bermuda. Smith wrote:

Neither hath the Aire for her part been wanting with due supplies of many sorts of Fowles … numbers of small birds like Sparrowes and Robins, which haue lately beene destroyed by the wilde Cats, Wood-pickars, very many Crowes... . [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Ciconia</i> Genus of birds

Ciconia is a genus of birds in the stork family. Six of the seven living species occur in the Old World, but the maguari stork has a South American range. In addition, fossils suggest that Ciconia storks were somewhat more common in the tropical Americas in prehistoric times.

<i>Colaptes</i> Genus of birds

Colaptes is a genus of birds in the woodpecker family Picidae. The 14 species are found across the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brace's emerald</span> Extinct species of bird

Brace's emerald is an extinct species of hummingbird which was endemic to the main island of the Bahamas, New Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Helena hoopoe</span> Extinct species of bird

The Saint Helena hoopoe, also known as the Saint Helena giant hoopoe or giant hoopoe, is an extinct species of hoopoe known exclusively from an incomplete subfossil skeleton. Once endemic to the island of Saint Helena, it was last seen around 1550, likely driven to extinction by various aspects of human activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calamian deer</span> Species of deer

The Calamian deer, also known as Calamian hog deer, is an endangered species of deer found only in the Calamian Islands of Palawan province in the Philippines. It is one of three species of deer native to the Philippines, the other being the Philippine sambar and the Visayan spotted deer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermuda night heron</span> Extinct species of bird

The Bermuda night heron is an extinct heron species from Bermuda.

Buteogallus borrasi is a species of giant buteonine hawk which went extinct in the early Holocene. Formerly endemic to Cuba, this huge bird of prey probably fed on Pleistocene megafauna. Little is known about its appearance and ecology, so no common name has been given.

<i>Caracara</i> (genus) Genus of birds

Caracara is a genus in the family Falconidae and the subfamily Polyborinae. It contains one extant species, the crested caracara, and one recently extinct species, the Guadalupe caracara. The crested caracara had in recent years been split into a northern species C. cheriway and a southern species C. plancus, but the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has voted to again merge the two, retaining C. plancus as the crested caracara. The taxonomists of the International Ornithologists' Union have also merged them.

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1981.

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1977.

Paleontology or palaeontology is the study of prehistoric life forms on Earth through the examination of plant and animal fossils. This includes the study of body fossils, tracks (ichnites), burrows, cast-off parts, fossilised feces (coprolites), palynomorphs and chemical residues. Because humans have encountered fossils for millennia, paleontology has a long history both before and after becoming formalized as a science. This article records significant discoveries and events related to paleontology that occurred or were published in the year 1976.

<i>Chelonoidis</i> Genus of tortoises

Chelonoidis is a genus of turtles in the tortoise family erected by Leopold Fitzinger in 1835. They are found in South America and the Galápagos Islands, and formerly had a wide distribution in the West Indies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaican ibis</span> Extinct species of bird

The Jamaican ibis, Jamaican flightless ibis or clubbed-wing ibis is an extinct bird species of the ibis subfamily uniquely characterized by its club-like wings. It is the only species in the genus Xenicibis, and one of only two flightless ibis genera, the other being the genus Apteribis which was endemic to Hawaii's islands of Maui Nui.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bermuda towhee</span> Extinct species of bird

The Bermuda towhee is an extinct bird of the towhee genus Pipilo that was endemic to Bermuda.

The New Caledonian barn owl, also referred to as Letocart's barn owl, is an extinct species of owl in the barn owl family. It was endemic to the island of New Caledonia in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific region. It was described from Holocene aged subfossil bones found at the Gilles Cave paleontological site on the west coast of Grande Terre. The holotype is a complete adult left femur, held by the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. The owl was described as Tyto? letocarti, indicating uncertainty as to generic placement at the time. The specific epithet honours Yves Letocart of New Caledonia's Water and Forest Service, who was active in bird conservation and paleontological work on the island.

The Bermuda hawk is an extinct bird of prey that was endemic to Bermuda. It was the sole member of the genus Bermuteo.

The year 2013 in birding and ornithology.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2022). "Colaptes oceanicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T62322970A208124384. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T62322970A208124384.en .
  2. Olson, Storrs L. (2013). "Fossil woodpeckers from Bermuda with the description of a new species of Colaptes (Aves: Picidae)". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 126 (#1): 17–24. doi:10.2988/0006-324X-126.1.17. S2CID   84248107.
  3. Quote In: Lefroy, J. H. (1981). Memorials of the discovery and early settlement of the Bermudas or Somers Islands 1515–1685. Second reprinting, volume 1. Bermuda Historical Society, Hamilton, p. 330