Gallinago kakuki

Gallinago kakuki was an extinct species of snipe in the family Scolopacidae that was once found in the West Indies. Fossils of this species are known from the Bahamas, Cuba, and Cayman Brac in the Cayman Islands.

Gallinago kakuki was a rather large species of snipe that was able to fly despite having slightly more reduced flight capabilities than its relatives. It shared more osteological similarities with the Old World species of snipe than those found in the New World; this is also the case for the Puerto Rican woodcock (Scolopax anthonyi) and Hispaniolan woodcock (Scolopax brachycarpa), indicating a possible inter-hemispherical relationship between terrestrial Caribbean scolopacids and their Old World counterparts. Currently, the only extant snipe from the West Indies is the Wilson's snipe (G. delicata), which is a migrant visitor to the region.

References

kakuki
Category:Extinct birds of the Caribbean
Category:Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
Category:Birds described in 2016
Category:Fossil taxa described in 2016