Bermuda Night Heron
Encyclopedia
The Bermuda Night Heron (Nyctanassa carcinocatactes) is an extinct heron species from Bermuda
. It is sometimes assigned to the genus Nycticorax
. It was first described in 2006 by Storrs L. Olson
and David B. Wingate
from subfossil
material found in the Pleistocene
and Holocene
deposits in caves and ponds of Bermuda. Its anatomy
was rather similar to its living relative, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron
(N. violacea), but it had a heavier bill, a more massive skull and more robust hind limbs. The specialization of the bill
and the hind limbs showed that it was apparently adapted to the feeding on land crab
s. There are also early historian reports referring to that species. It possibly became extinct due to the settlement of the Bermuda islands in the 17th century.
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. It is sometimes assigned to the genus Nycticorax
Nycticorax
Nycticorax is a genus of night herons. The name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the Black-crowned Night Heron.These are medium-sized herons which...
. It was first described in 2006 by Storrs L. Olson
Storrs L. Olson
Storrs Lovejoy Olson is an American biologist and ornithologist from the Smithsonian Institution. He is one of the world's foremost avian paleontologists....
and David B. Wingate
David B. Wingate
Dr David Balcombe Wingate OBE, born October 11, 1935, is an ornithologist, naturalist and conservationist. He was born in Bermuda.In 1951 he helped Robert Cushman Murphy and Louis S...
from subfossil
Subfossil
Subfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
material found in the Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
and Holocene
Holocene
The Holocene is a geological epoch which began at the end of the Pleistocene and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Quaternary period. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely recent"...
deposits in caves and ponds of Bermuda. Its anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
was rather similar to its living relative, the Yellow-crowned Night Heron
Yellow-crowned Night Heron
The Yellow-crowned Night Heron , also called the American Night Heron or squawk, is a fairly small heron, similar in appearance to the Black-crowned Night Heron...
(N. violacea), but it had a heavier bill, a more massive skull and more robust hind limbs. The specialization of the bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
and the hind limbs showed that it was apparently adapted to the feeding on land crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
s. There are also early historian reports referring to that species. It possibly became extinct due to the settlement of the Bermuda islands in the 17th century.