| Brace's emerald | |
|---|---|
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| Artist rendition | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Clade: | Strisores |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Trochilidae |
| Genus: | Riccordia |
| Species: | †R. bracei |
| Binomial name | |
| †Riccordia bracei (Lawrence, 1877) | |
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Brace's emerald (Riccordia bracei) is an extinct species of hummingbird which was endemic to the main island of the Bahamas, New Providence.
Its weight was 0.43 oz (12.3 g), its wingspan was 9.25", its length was 5.5" and the length of its tail was 2.5". The black bill was slightly straight and short. The legs and feet were black. The back exhibited a slaty blue hue with a black gleam. The head was similarly coloured to the back, with the absence of the black gloss. Directly behind the eyes was a white eyebrow. The throat was white. The abdomen had white feathers with black and yellow splotches. The wings exhibited a bluish hue with white wingbars. The rectrices were blackish. The crissum (the undertail covert which surrounded the cloacal opening) was white with a faint yellow hue at the edges.
For more than a hundred years, Brace's emerald was only known by the type specimen, one single male which was shot by bird collector Lewis J. K. Brace on July 13, 1877 around three miles (4.8 kilometres) away from Nassau on the island of New Providence. The skin (which is unfortunately heavily damaged at the throat) is now at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The species was long ignored by ornithological authorities. In 1880, it was listed without commentary as a synonym of the Cuban emerald (Riccordia ricordii).
Not until the 1930s was the unique status of the holotype even recognized, as it was seen as an aberrant specimen of the Cuban emerald that had become a vagrant to New Providence. American ornithologist James Bond was the first to discuss the differences between R. ricordii and R. bracei. In 1945, he split R. ricordii and regarded R. ricordii bracei as a new subspecies. In contrast to the Cuban species, the specimen from New Providence was smaller, had a longer bill and a different plumage.
In 1982, palaeornithologists William Hilgartner and Storrs Olson discovered fossil remains of three hummingbird species from the Pleistocene in the deposits in a cave of New Providence.[ citation needed ] These were the Bahama woodstar (Nesophlox evelynae), Cuban emerald (R. ricordii; also R. elegans), and another species, which was later identified as Riccordia bracei. This provided evidence that Brace had discovered a new hummingbird species which lived on New Providence since the Pleistocene. It formed a relict population, and most likely due to habitat loss and human disturbance (e.g. agriculture), it became extinct at the end of the 19th century. Both R. bracei and R. elegans are listed as extinct on the 2024 IUCN Red List as extinct species. [3]
The Puerto Rican emerald, or zumbadorcito de Puerto Rico in Spanish, is species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to Puerto Rico.
The Cuban amazon, also known as the Cuban parrot and the rose-throated parrot, is a medium-sized mainly green parrot found in woodlands and dry forests of Cuba, the Bahamas and Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. Although they have been observed in the wild in Puerto Rico, they are probably the result of escaped pets, and no reproduction has been recorded.
Xantus's hummingbird, previously known as the black-fronted hummingbird, is a species in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the Baja California Peninsula.
Gould's emerald is an extinct species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. It was described based on a single specimen taken in 1860; it is of unknown origin, but the northern Bahamas or especially Jamaica are likely sources.
The Cozumel emerald is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the Mexican island of Cozumel off the Yucatán Peninsula.
The Cuban emerald is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in the Bahamas and Cuba.
The Hispaniolan emerald is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
The blue-headed hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found only on the islands of Dominica and Martinique in the Lesser Antilles.
The sapphire-throated hummingbird is a shiny metallic-green hummingbird found in Panama, Colombia, and more recently Costa Rica. The sapphire-throated hummingbird is separated into three subspecies; Chrysuronia coeruleogularis coeruleogularis, Chrysuronia coeruleogularis coelina, and Chrysuronia coeruleogularis conifis.
Storrs Lovejoy Olson was an American biologist and ornithologist who spent his career at the Smithsonian Institution, retiring in 2008. One of the world's foremost avian paleontologists, he was best known for his studies of fossil and subfossil birds on islands such as Ascension, St. Helena and Hawaii. His early higher education took place at Florida State University in 1966, where he obtained a B.A. in biology, and the University of Florida, where he received an M.S. in biology. Olson's doctoral studies took place at Johns Hopkins University, in what was then the School of Hygiene and Public Health. He was married to fellow paleornithologist Helen F. James.
Cyclura ricordii, also known as Ricord's ground iguana or Ricord's rock iguana, is an endangered species of medium-sized rock iguana, a large herbivorous lizard. It is endemic to the island of Hispaniola. It is known to coexist with the nominate subspecies of the rhinoceros iguana ; the two species are the only taxa of rock iguana to do so. The natural habitats of its three subpopulations are hot, dry, wooded savanna on limestone with access to soil and sandy flats in southern Hispaniola. It is threatened by predation by introduced predators and habitat loss, due to overgrazing and charcoal manufacture.
Titanohierax gloveralleni, also known as the Bahama eagle, is a large species of extinct hawk from the Late Quaternary of the Caribbean. Remains of the animal have been found on multiple islands in The Bahamas. The animal is known from a handful of bones found across multiple islands, including a tarsometatarsus, partial metacarpal, and nearly complete right ulna. The animal was described based off the former two by Alexander Wetmore in 1937, with all other currently referred material being assigned by Storrs Olson and colleagues in 1982.
Riccordia is a genus of birds in the hummingbird family Trochilidae. They are endemic to the Caribbean.
