The Antillean cave rail (''Nesotrochis debooyi''), also known as DeBooy's rail, is an extinct species of flightless bird which occurred on

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

. Bone fragments of this species were first unearthed by archaeologist Theodoor de Booy in kitchen

midden A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

deposits on the Richmond estate near

Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands Christiansted is the largest town on Saint Croix, one of the main islands composing the United States Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States of America. The town is named after King Christian VI of Denmark. History The town was founded ...

in July 1916 and described by

Alexander Wetmore Frank Alexander Wetmore (June 18, 1886 – December 7, 1978) was an American ornithologist and avian paleontologist. He was the sixth Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Early life and education The son of a Country Physician, Frank Al ...

in 1918. The Antillean cave rail might have become extinct before the arrival of the Europeans but stories heard by Alexander Wetmore on Puerto Rico in 1912 about an easy-to-catch bird named carrao might refer to this species. The Antillean cave rail was flightless and was hunted as food by the aborigines.

References

*Wetmore, A. (1918): ''Bones of birds collected by Theodoor de Booy from Kitchen Midden deposits in the islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix'' *Olson, S. L. (1974): ''A new species of Nesotrochis from Hispaniola, with notes on other fossil rails from the West Indies (Aves: Rallidae)''

External links

The Auk Vol. 55 (1938), p. 51: Bird remains from the West Indies by Alexander WetmoreCatalogue of Fossil birds by Pierce Brodkorb Part 3 - Family Rallidae p. 127Bird remains from the caves of Porto Rico. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 46, article 4., 1922
Rallidae Holocene extinctions Birds described in 1918 Extinct birds of the Caribbean Extinct flightless birds Fossil taxa described in 1918 Taxa named by Alexander Wetmore {{Gruiformes-stub