Barbados rail

Barbados rail; Temporal range: Late Pleistocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Rallidae
Genus:	Fulica
Species:	†F. podagrica
Binomial name
	†Fulica podagrica; (Brodkorb, 1965)

The Barbados rail is a fossil rail species endemic to Barbados with an undetermined taxonomic status.^[2] It was formerly described by Pierce Brodkorb in 1965 as Fulica podagrica.^[3] However, this classification has been questioned by Storrs Olson when he described Brodkorb's material anew in 1974.^[2] It is only known by Brodkorb's holotype which consists of a humerus and several leg elements including femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus fragments.^[3] The humerus may not be specifically distinct from those of the American coot (Fulica americana) but most of the femur, tibiotarsus and tarsometarsus fragments are from a yet undescribed larger rail of an undetermined genus not related to Fulica.^[3] Olson further assumed that Brodkorb's material might be a composite of several rail species.^[3] The bone fragments were unearthed in Late Pleistocene deposits in Saint Philip Parish and Ragged Point on Barbados.^[3]

Etymology

Brodkorb's previous species epithet is derived from the Greek term podagrikos (which means affected with gout). This applied in allusion to the large size of the leg elements.^[3]

References

^ P. Brodkorb. 1965. Fossil birds from Barbados, West Indies. The Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society 31(1):3–10
^ ^a ^b Storrs Olson: A new species of Nesotrochis from Hispaniola, with notes on other fossil rails from the West Indies (Aves: Rallidae) In: Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 87, 38:p 439-450, 1974
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Storrs Olson: A synopsis on the fossil Rallidae In: Sidney Dillon Ripley: Rails of the World – A Monograph of the Family Rallidae. Codline. Boston, 1977. ISBN 0-87474-804-6