Cryptopsar Hume, 2014, gen. nov.
Creators: name: Hume, Julian Pender
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2014
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Aves
Passeriformes
Sturnidae
Cryptopsar

description: Genus Cryptopsar gen. nov.
Type species: Cryptopsar ischyrhynchus sp. nov.
Etymology. Greek kryptós, hidden, concealed, and psar, starling, in reference to the bones of this species being hidden in a museum drawer for over 100 years, concealing the evidence of a third species of sturnid on the Mascarenes. The gender is masculine.
Diagnosis. Cryptopsar is distinguished from other Mascarene sturnids by the following suite of characters:
Cranium: crista nuchalis transversus oval-shaped and narrow; tuba audivita communis deeply excavated; processus paroccipitalis elevated, enhancing depression below; lamina parasphenoidalis slightly excavated.
Rostrum: sharp and decurved; os nasale narrow.
Mandible: in dorsal view, rostrum mandibulae deeply excavated; processus mandibulae medialis inflected posteriorly and sharply pointed; in lateral view, processus retroarticularis extremely long and distinctly triangular; single, small fenestra rostralis mandibulae; articular ends comparatively shallow.
Coracoid: comparatively gracile.
Humerus: gracile; shaft curved; tuberculum ventrale small; two tricipital fossae; tricipital fossa II not completely enclosed and separated from tricipital fossa I by medial bar; tricipital fossa I open distally communicating with tricipital fossa II; processus supracondylaris dorsalis reduced, with little proximal extension; crista deltopectoralis reduced, shallow in dorsal view.
Ulna: impressio brachialis deeply excavated; olecranon prominent.
Carpometacarpus: processus extensorius reduced.
Femur: facies articularis acetabularis deflected slightly proximad; linea internus cranialis distinctly ridged; sulcus patellaris deeply excavated; in caudal aspect, deep excavation distal to facies articularis acetabularis.
Tibiotarsus: tuberculum retinaculi m. fibularis distinct; crista lateralis cranialis distinctally hooked; pons supratendineus narrow with deep canalis extensorius.
Tarsometatarsus: comparatively short and robust; trochleae expanded; no bridge linking impressiones retinaculi extensorii; crista medialis hypotarsi not expanded distally; on proximal end, cotyla medialis projects dorsad; foramen vasculare distale extends proximad; distinct ridge on facies dorsalis; fossa metatarsi I with increased proximal extension and distinct medial ridge; in ventral view, trochlea metatarsi III wide and indistinctly larger than trochlea metatarsi II; fossa parahypotarsalis medialis forms a distinct groove.
Remarks. Rothschild (1907b:6), followed by Hachisuka (1953: 204), were convinced that Necropsar (Orphanopsar) leguati could not have occurred on Rodrigues alongside N. rodericanus (contra Forbes 1898), so its provenance must have been Mauritius. They completely erred in this context, but were inadvertently correct in the fact that a species of starling, closely related to Necropsar and Fregilupus, did once occur on Mauritius.
description: Published as part of Hume, Julian Pender, 2014, Systematics, morphology, and ecological history of the Mascarene starlings (Aves: Sturnidae) with the description of a new genus and species from Mauritius, pp. 1-75 in Zootaxa 3849 (1) on pages 51-52, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.3849.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/286831