Scolopax brachycarpa Takano & Steadman, 2015, new species
Creators: name: Takano, Oona M.
name: Steadman, David W.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Charadriiformes
Scolopacidae
Scolopax
Scolopax brachycarpa

description: Scolopax brachycarpa, new species
Holotype. UF 276038, carpometacarpus (Figure 2 L, Table 1), collected by C. A. Woods and his field party at Trouing Jean Paul, Morne La Visite region, Massif de la Selle, Haiti (18˚20’15” N, 72˚16’50” W), on 16 February 1984.
Paratypes. 19 carpometacarpi, UF 275883-275885, 275916, 275917, 275930, 275931, 275943, 275974- 275976, 276036, 276037, 276043, 276089, 276131, 276137, 276326, 276335.
Referred material. 320 specimens representing all major postcranial skeletal elements (vertebrae, sterna, furcula, coracoids, scapulae, humeri, ulnae, radii, ulnare, manual phalanges, femora, tibiotarsi, tarsometatarsi, pedal phalanges) as well as the mandible, UF 275863-276037, 276039-276149, 276301-276346. All are from Trouing Jean Paul, Haiti.
Geological age. Late Holocene (details in Discussion).
Diagnosis. A small species of Scolopax that differs from S. minor and S. rusticola (and, in many cases, S. anthonyi) in these major features: mandibular articulation (Fig. 3; element not available in S. anthonyi or S. hutchensi)—postarticular process deeper; cotyla lateralis with well-developed medio-anterior extension; processus coronoideus larger; coracoid (Fig. 2)—impressio musculus sternocoracoidei more concave than in S. minor, S. rusticola, or S. hutchensi; in dorsal aspect, angulus medialis more pointed; corpus coracoidei stouter than in S. minor and S. rusticola, especially in medial or lateral aspect; ventral surface of facies ventralis with a longitudinal ridge (rounded in others); humerus (Fig. 2)—corpus humeri flatter (less convex), especially in proximal one-half; tuberculum dorsale more excavated; fossa musculus brachialis deeper, especially than in S. minor; condylus dorsalis with ridge extending toward condylus ventralis; condylus ventralis more rounded than in S. minor and S. anthonyi; tuberculum supracondylare ventralis smaller; ulna—tuberculum carpale less pointed than in S. minor; depression musculus brachialis deeper; proximal one-third of corpus ulna more antero-posteriorly compressed; tuberculum ligamentum collateralis ventralis smaller; carpometacarpus (Fig. 2)—short relative to humerus or femur (Table 1); processus extensorius more prominent and oriented more perpendicular to long axis of the bone than in S. anthonyi; synostosis metacarpi proximalis and distalis shorter than in S. rusticola and especially S. minor; os metacarpale majus and minus stouter than in S. minor; processus intermetacarpalis located more proximad than in S. rusticola (absent in S. minor and S. anthonyi); femur (Fig. 4; element not available in S. anthonyi)—stouter overall; facies articularis acetabularis (head) relatively larger in all aspects; epicondylus medialis larger than in S. minor; tibiotarsus (Fig. 4)—overall more slender; in all aspects, proximal one-half of corpus tibiotarsi more angular (less rounded), with better developed intermuscular lines; distal end more expanded from corpus tibiotarsi; incisura intercondylaris wider than in S. minor, S. rusticola, or S. anthonyi; sulcus extensorius relatively deeper; tarsometatarsus (Fig. 5)—short relative to tibiotarsus (Table 1); overall slightly stouter; foramen vasculare distale larger than in S. minor, S. rusticola, or S. anthonyi; medio-proximo-acrotarsial margin of corpus tarsometatarsi sharper (less rounded); cristae plantares less well defined.
Etymology. Named from the Greek brachys (short) and the Latin carpus (masculine; wrist, carpal, metacarpal; Brown 1956: 394). The species name brachycarpa is feminine to agree in gender with the feminine genus Scolopax.
Remarks. We note that Scolopax brachycarpa differs from S. minor in 30 of 35 diagnostic osteological characters, from S. rusticola in 28 of the same 35 characters, from S. anthonyi in 18 of the 29 characters that were possible to evaluate, and from S. hutchensi in 10 of 14 characters that were possible to evaluate.
Females average larger than males in Scolopax minor in linear measurements, whether external or skeletal, but with considerable overlap (Ridgway 1919: 156; Table 1 herein). The woodcock fossils from Trouing Jean Paul are, of course, of unknown sex; nevertheless, where our measurements of a specific feature of the fossils has a sample size>10 (e.g., Table 1: humerus midshaft width, ulna midshaft oblique depth, femur midshaft width, tarsometatarsus length, tarsometatarsus least width of shaft), the measurements have a small range, suggesting that S. brachycarpa was less sexually dimorphic in size than S. minor. The relatively small size range also supports our belief that these fossils represent a single species.
description: Published as part of Takano, Oona M. & Steadman, David W., 2015, A new species of Woodcock (Aves: Scolopacidae: Scolopax) from Hispaniola, West Indies, pp. 117-126 in Zootaxa 4032 (1) on pages 119-120, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4032.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/236671