Caracara (genus)

Caracara (genus)
Caracara
Northern Caracara (Caracara cheriway) in Texas, USA.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Falconiformes
Family: Falconidae
Subfamily: Polyborinae
Genus: Caracara
Merrem, 1826
Species

Caracara cheriway
Caracara plancus
and see text
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/or for long placed in 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.

The fossil record proves the long history of the mainland "crested caracaras". Remains of Northern Caracaras, slightly larger[verification needed] 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

  1. ^ AOU Check-list of North American Birds. 7th edition w. supplements. Accessed 2008-04-26
  2. ^ ABA Check-list (PDF). Version 6.8. Accessed 2008-04-26
  3. ^ Clements, J. F. 2007. The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World. 6th edition. Christopher Helm. ISBN 978-0-7136-8695-1
  4. ^ a b c "Caracara". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=175594. Retrieved 03 April 2011. 
  5. ^ 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. http://www.pnas.org/content/104/50/19897.full. 
  6. ^ Brodkorb, Pierce (1959). "Pleistocene Birds from New Providence Island, Bahamas". Bulletin of the State of Florida Museum (University of Florida) 4 (11): 354. http://www2.nrm.se/ve/birds/sape/GlobalOwlProject/Fossil_owls/Brodkorb%201959.pdf. 
  7. ^ 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. http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.3356/JRR-08-18.1?journalCode=rapt. 
  • Dove, C. & R. Banks. 1999. A Taxonomic study of Crested Caracaras (Falconidae). Wilson Bull. 111(3): 330-339. Available online (PDF)

External links

Photo of Crested Caracara at Brazos Bend State Park, Texas : [1]


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