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Puerto Rico, officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a Caribbean island and unincorporated territory of the United States. It is located in the northeast Caribbean Sea, approximately 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Miami, Florida.
The Puerto Rican nesophontes, or Puerto Rican shrew, is an extinct eulipotyphlan endemic to Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican amazon, also known as the Puerto Rican parrot, cotorra puertorriqueña or iguaca, is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and belongs to the Neotropical genus Amazona. Measuring 28–30 cm (11.0–11.8 in), the bird is a predominantly green parrot with a red forehead and white rings around the eyes. Two subspecies have been described, although there are doubts regarding the distinctiveness of the form gracilipes from Culebra Island, extinct since 1912. Its closest relatives are believed to be the Cuban amazon and the Hispaniolan amazon.
Desecheo is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico located in the northeast of the Mona Passage; 13 mi (21 km) from Rincón on the west coast of the main island of Puerto Rico and 31 mi (50 km) northeast of Mona Island. It has a land area of 0.589 sq mi. Politically, the island is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The elfin woods warbler is a species of bird endemic to Puerto Rico, where it is local and uncommon. Discovered in 1968 and described in 1972, it is the most recently described New World warbler.
The Monito gecko is a lizard, a species of gecko endemic to the island of Monito, in the archipelago of Puerto Rico.
The yellow-shouldered blackbird, also known as la Mariquita de Puerto Rico or capitán, is a diurnal blackbird endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and belongs to the genus Agelaius of the family Icteridae. It has black plumage with a prominent yellow shoulder on its wing. Adult males and females are of similar appearance. The species is predominantly insectivorous.
The fauna of Puerto Rico is similar to other island archipelago faunas, with high endemism, and low, skewed taxonomic diversity. Bats are the only extant native terrestrial mammals in Puerto Rico. All other terrestrial mammals in the area were introduced by humans, and include species such as cats, goats, sheep, the small Asian mongoose, and escaped monkeys. Marine mammals include dolphins, manatees, and whales. Of the 349 bird species, about 120 breed in the archipelago, and 47.5% are accidental or rare.
Coquí is the common name for several species of small frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus native to Puerto Rico. They are onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui and the upland coqui, make at night. The coquí is one of the most common frogs in Puerto Rico, with more than 16 different species found within its territory, including 13 in the El Yunque National Forest. Other species of this genus can be found in the rest of the Caribbean and elsewhere in the Neotropics, in Central and South America. The Eleutherodactylus coquí is a national symbol to their native island, Puerto Rico. There is a Puerto Rican expression that goes, “Soy de aquí, como el coquí”, which translates to “I’m from here, like the coquí."
The Antillean fruit-eating bat is one of two leaf-nosed bat species belonging to the genus Brachyphylla. The species occurs in the Caribbean from Puerto Rico to St. Vincent and Barbados. Fossil specimens have also been recorded from New Providence, Bahamas.
Neodiplogynium is a genus of parasitic mites belonging to the family Diplogyniidae. Members of this genus can be distinguished from related mites by the sclerotized anal and ventral plates being completely separated.
The Puerto Rican hutia is an extinct species of rodent in the family Capromyidae. It was found on Hispaniola and introduced to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The buffy flower bat is a species of bat in the leaf-nosed bat family, Phyllostomidae. It is found in the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica.
The insular cave rat is an extinct species of spiny rat native to Puerto Rico.
Raoiella indica, commonly known as the red palm mite, is a species of mite belonging to the family Tenuipalpidae. A pest of several species of palm in the Middle East and South East Asia, it is now becoming established throughout the Caribbean. The invasion of this species is the biggest mite explosion ever observed in the Americas.
Oligonychus sacchari, the sugarcane mite, yellow mite or sugarcane yellow mite, is a species of mite.
The Antillean cave rat is an extinct species of spiny rat of the genus Heteropsomys that was native to Puerto Rico.
Litarachna lopezae is a species of aquatic mite in the order Trombidiformes. Found around depths of 70 meters in the Mona Passage, Puerto Rico, the species was named after Jennifer Lopez.
References
- Fox, Irving (1959). "A new mite taken with rats in Puerto Rico". Acarologia: 296–298. ISSN 0044-586X.