The gracile goshawk (''Accipiter quartus'') is an extinct species of

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predat ...

in the family

Accipitridae The Accipitridae is one of the three families within the order Accipitriformes, and is a family of small to large birds with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-s ...

. It was

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the island of New Caledonia in

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, Va ...

in the southwest

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

region. It was described from subfossil bones found at the Pindai Caves paleontological site on the west coast of Grande Terre. The Latin specific epithet ''quartus'' means "fourth"; it was the fourth ''Accipiter'' species recorded from New Caledonia. The gracile goshawk was smaller and much less robust than its contemporary congener the powerful goshawk, remains of which were also found at the same site.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q339145 Accipiter Extinct birds of New Caledonia Holocene extinctions Birds described in 1989 Taxa named by Jean-Christophe Balouet Late Quaternary prehistoric birds