''Gallinago kakuki'' is a

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

species of snipe in the family

Scolopacidae Sandpipers are a large family, Scolopacidae, of waders. They include many species called sandpipers, as well as those called by names such as curlew and snipe. The majority of these species eat small invertebrates picked out of the mud or soil. ...

that was once endemic to the West Indies. Fossils of this species are known from the Bahamas, Cuba, and Cayman Brac in the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

. ''Gallinago kakuki'' was a rather large species of snipe that was able to fly despite having slightly more reduced flight capabilities than its relatives. It shared more osteological similarities with the Old World species of snipe than those found in the New World; this is also the case for the Puerto Rican woodcock (''

Scolopax anthonyi ''Scolopax anthonyi'' is a prehistoric species of woodcock in the family Scolopacidae that was once endemic to the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. Taxonomy Its fossil remains were initially identified as belonging to a snipe of the genus ' ...

'') and Hispaniolan woodcock (''

Scolopax brachycarpa ''Scolopax brachycarpa'', is an extinct species of woodcock in the family Scolopacidae that was endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. Taxonomy It belonged to an insular radiation of woodcocks that may have once existed throughout the G ...

''), indicating a possible inter-hemispherical relationship between terrestrial

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

scolopacids and their Old World counterparts. Currently, the only extant snipe from the West Indies is the Wilson's snipe (''G. delicata''), which is a migrant visitor to the region.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q60791812 kakuki Extinct birds of the Caribbean Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Birds described in 2016 Fossil taxa described in 2016 Taxa named by David Steadman