Caracara (genus)
| Caracara | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Crested Caracara at the Tárcoles River, Costa Rica | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Falconiformes |
| Family: | Falconidae |
| Subfamily: | Polyborinae |
| Genus: | Caracara Merrem, 1826 |
| Species | |
and see text | |
 | |
| Range of the genus Caracara | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Polyborus | |
Caracara is a genus of birds of prey in the family Falconidae found throughout a large part of the Americas. They are part of a group collectively referred to as caracaras. The modern species in the genus Caracara were previously considered conspecific (as "Crested Caracara", a name still widely used for the Northern Caracara)[1][2][3] and were originally placed within the genus Polyborus.
Taxonomy
Two of the modern species are extant, one was deliberately made extinct by humans about 100 years ago (to the detriment of its island home). Several prehistoric taxa are also known.
- Northern Caracara (Caracara cheriway)[4]
- Southern Caracara (Caracara plancus)[4]
- †Guadalupe Caracara (Caracara lutosa)[4] – extinct (1900 or 1903)
- †Bahaman Caracara (Caracara creightoni) – prehistoric, may belong in C. latebrosus[5]
- †Puerto Rican Caracara (Caracara latebrosus) – prehistoric[6]
- †Terrestrial Caracara (Caracara tellustris) – prehistoric[7]
The fossil record proves the long history of the mainland "crested caracaras". Remains of Northern Caracaras, slightly larger than those of our time and otherwise all but identical, were found in the famous La Brea Tar Pits. In addition, the Guadalupe Caracara may derive from an already-distinct population of western Mexico that subsequently was displaced by the main continental population.
References
- ↑ AOU Check-list of North American Birds. 7th edition w. supplements. Accessed 2008-04-26
- ↑ ABA Check-list (PDF). Version 6.8. Accessed 2008-04-26
- ↑ Clements, J. F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World. 6th edition. Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-8695-1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Caracara". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 3 April 2011.
- ↑ Steadman, David W.; Richard Franz; Gary S. Morgan; Nancy A. Albury; Brian Kakuk; Kenneth Broad; Shelley E. Franz; Keith Tinker; Michael P. Pateman; Terry A. Lott; David M. Jarzen; David L. Dilcher (2007). "Exceptionally well preserved late Quaternary plant and vertebrate fossils from a blue hole on Abaco, The Bahamas". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104 (50): 19897–19902. doi:10.1073/pnas.0709572104. PMC 2148394. PMID 18077421.
- ↑ Brodkorb, Pierce (1959). "Pleistocene Birds from New Providence Island, Bahamas". Bulletin of the State of Florida Museum (University of Florida) 4 (11): 354.
- ↑ Olson, Storrs L. (2008). "A New Species of Large, Terrestrial Caracara from Holocene Deposits in Southern Jamaica (Aves: Falconidae)". Journal of Raptor Research (The Raptor Research Foundation) 42 (4): 265–272. doi:10.3356/JRR-08-18.1.
Further reading
- Dove, C. & R. Banks. 1999. A Taxonomic study of Crested Caracaras (Falconidae). Wilson Bull. 111(3): 330–339.
