A new duck (Aves: Anatidae) from the Upper Pleistocene of Cuba

The past diversity and evolutionary history of ducks (Aves: Anseriformes: Anatidae) in the West Indies are almost unknown, as these birds are extremely rare in the fossil record of the region. This paper describes a complete humerus from Late Pleistocene strata of El Abrón Cave in Western Cuba, which is only the third find of fossil anseriform birds on the island. This fossil duck represents an extinct form, here described as a new species of the genus Amazonetta, with its closest living taxon being the South American Brazilian teal A. brasiliensis.

This find for the first time indicates a wider distribution of Amazonetta ducks in the Late Quaternary and, along with other extinct Cuban birds, illustrates the possibly greater influence of the South American avian fauna on the taxonomic composition of Greater Antillean bird communities prior to the Holocene extinction.