| Bridled quail-dove | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Columbiformes |
| Family: | Columbidae |
| Genus: | Geotrygon |
| Species: | G. mystacea |
| Binomial name | |
| Geotrygon mystacea (Temminck, 1811) | |
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The bridled quail-dove (Geotrygon mystacea) is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found from Saint Lucia in the Lesser Antilles north and west to Puerto Rico. [2] [3]
The bridled quail-dove is monotypic. [2] It has been suggested that it and the Key West quail-dove (Geotrygon chrysia) form a superspecies. [3]
Specimens of bridled quail-dove from several islands had mean weights between 208 and 224 g (7.3 and 7.9 oz) with fairly large standard deviations. These data and measurements of various body parts suggest that the species "has low morphometric variance across its distribution." [3]
Adult bridled quail-doves are mostly brown. They have a bold white stripe across the face below the eye and a small white patch on the throat. The male's head and nape are iridescent green which becomes blues and violets on the lower neck and upper back; females have less iridescence. The tail is dark brownish gray and the belly cream. The folded wing shows some cinnamon markings. [3]
The bridled quail-dove is or was found from Puerto Rico south and east through the Lesser Antilles to Saint Lucia. As of 2009, it was generally uncommon to rare throughout its range, and might have been extirpated from some islands. Privately owned Guana Island, one of the British Virgin Islands, appears to be the only site where is considered common. It inhabits forested mountain areas that have dense understory and much leaf litter. [3]
Bridled quail-doves usually forage singly or in pairs and also sometimes in larger groups. They probe and toss leaf litter on the forest floor searching for seeds, fallen fruits, and invertebrates such as snails and insects. [3] These birds have also been documented to eat Sphaerodactylus macrolepis, [4] a lizard native to the Puerto Rico area.
The bridled quail-dove builds a platform nest of twigs in vines, shrubs, or trees. The clutch size is one or two. [3]
The bridled quail-dove's call is "a relatively deep, resonating coo" described as "haoooo", "hoo-hoooooo", or "who-whooo". It also makes a "guttural croaking" call whose purpose is not known. [3]
The IUCN has assessed the bridled quail-dove as being of Least Concern. [1] However, there are few historical data with which to compare modern records so it is not clear whether the population is in decline or stable. Habitat loss, hunting, natural disasters such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions, and predation by introduced mammals are all known to have influenced the populations on one or more islands. [3] [5] [6] [7] [8] In Puerto Rico, it is “the highest territorial priority species in need of conservation measures." [9]
Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million people. Its direct effects killed 67 people and inflicted $11 billion in damage. The damage wrought by the storm was more costly than any Atlantic hurricane preceding it. At its peak strength east of the Lesser Antilles, Hugo was classified as a Category 5 hurricane—the highest rating on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Over the course of five days, Hugo made landfalls on Guadeloupe, Saint Croix, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina, bringing major hurricane conditions to these and surrounding areas. Lesser effects were felt along the periphery of the hurricane's path in the Lesser Antilles and across the Eastern United States into Eastern Canada. The scale of Hugo's impacts led to the retirement of the name Hugo from Atlantic hurricane names.
The Puerto Rican woodpecker is the only woodpecker endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico and is one of the five species of the genus Melanerpes that occur in the Antilles. Furthermore, it is the only resident species of the family Picidae in Puerto Rico. The species is common on the main island of Puerto Rico and rare on the island of Vieques.
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 Indian 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.
The Key West quail-dove is a species of bird from the doves and pigeon family Columbidae. It is probably most closely related to the bridled quail-dove.
The ruddy quail-dove is a species of bird in the dove and pigeon family Columbidae. It breeds throughout the West Indies, Central America, and tropical South America. It has appeared as a vagrant in Florida and southern Texas. It lays two buff-colored eggs on a flimsy platform built on a shrub. Some nests are built on the ground.
The Antillean crested hummingbird is a species of hummingbird in the family Trochilidae. Found across Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Montserrat, north-east Puerto Rico, Saba, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Lesser Antilles, while it has also been recorded as a vagrant in Florida, USA.
Geotrygon is a bird genus in the pigeon and dove family (Columbidae). Its members are called quail-doves, and all live in the Neotropics. The species of this genus have ranges from southern Mexico and Central America to the West Indies and South America. Quail-doves are ground-dwelling birds that live, nest, and feed in dense forests. They are remarkable for their purple to brown coloration with light-and-dark facial markings.
The grey-fronted quail-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Cuba.
The crested quail-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to Jamaica.
Guana Island is an island of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Caribbean. One of the few remaining privately owned islands in its part of the world, Guana has seven white powder-sand beaches and 850 acres (3.4 km2) of tropical forest, mountains, hills, and valleys. The island is mostly natural preserve and has a small resort.
The white-fronted quail-dove is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is endemic to the Dominican Republic on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola; it is possibly extirpated from Haiti.
The Virgin Islands dwarf sphaero, Virgin Gorda least gecko, or Virgin Islands dwarf gecko is a species of gecko and also one of the smallest terrestrial vertebrates. It has only been found on three of the British Virgin Islands: Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Moskito Island. It was discovered in 1964 and is suspected to be a close relative of Sphaerodactylus nicholsi, a dwarf sphaero from the nearby island of Puerto Rico. It shares its range with the big-scaled least gecko (S. macrolepis), which is found in leaf litter. Unlike this larger gecko, the Virgin Islands dwarf sphaero lives on drier hillsides, yet prefers moist microhabitats found under rocks because it lacks the adaptations necessary for preventing water loss, which is a significant problem due to its small body size.
Sphaerodactylus macrolepis, also known as the big-scaled dwarf gecko or the big-scaled least gecko, is a lizard of the Sphaerodactylus genus. It was first documented in 1859 in the US Virgin Islands, specifically, St. Croix. This diurnal species has since been spotted in other locations such as Puerto Rico with major populations in Culebra.
The Puerto Rican quail-dove is an extinct species of dove from the genus of quail-doves Geotrygon. It is only known by subfossil material from the Holocene.
The fauna of the United States Virgin Islands consists of 144 species of birds, 22 species of mammals, 302 species of fish and 7 species of amphibians. The wildlife of the U.S.V.I. includes numerous endemic species of tropical birds, fish, and land reptiles as well as sea mammals. The only endemic land mammals are six species of native bats: the greater bulldog bat, Antillean fruit-eating bat, red fruit bat, Brazilian free-tailed bat, velvety free-tailed bat and the Jamaican fruit bat. Some of the nonnative land mammals roaming the islands are the white-tailed deer, small Asian mongoose, goats, feral donkeys, rats, mice, sheep, hogs, dogs and cats.
