The Bahaman caracara (Caracara creightoni), also known as Creighton's caracara,[1] is an extinct bird of prey. It is known only from a few fossils discovered in the Bahamas and Cuba.[2]Caracara creightoni was a scavenger and opportunistic species instead of a predator like its sister extant species (C. plancus). It lived during the late Pleistocene to the beginning of the Holocene era.
Caracara latebrosus holotype, possible senior synonym
C. creightoni stood 58 cm tall, was short-winged and likely a poor flier.[2] This species went extinct as a result of humans arriving on its home islands and wiping out the bird's prey species.[1] A 2,500 year old C. creightoni femur from an Abaco Islandsblue hole yielded a nearly complete mitochondrial genome.[3] The DNA shows that the species was closely related to the crested caracara. The two species last shared a common ancestor between 1.2 and 0.4 million years ago, during the Pleistocene.
^ abTumas, Alejandro; Hobbs, Amanda (August 2010), Todhunter, Andrew, ed., "Blue Holes of the Bahamas" in "Deep Dark Secrets", National Geographic218 (2): insert.
^Oswald, Jessica A.; Allen, Julia M.; Witt, Kelsey E.; Folk, Ryan A.; Albury, Nancy A.; Steadman, David W.; Guralnick, Robert P. (2019-11-01). "Ancient DNA from a 2,500-year-old Caribbean fossil places an extinct bird (Caracara creightoni) in a phylogenetic context". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 140: 106576. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2019.106576. ISSN1055-7903. PMID31381968.
