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NUMBER 89
Puffinus Iherminieri Lesson, 1840
Audubon's Shearwater
MATERIAL.—Grotte des Premiers Francais: Very numerous
remains from all parts of the skeleton, corresponding at
least to 1 adult in layer 4 and to 27 individuals (14 adults, 13
juveniles) in layer 5.
Grotte "au sable": Very numerous remains, corresponding
at least to 11 individuals (2 adults, 9 juveniles):
330572-330588, 330591, 330596-330597, 330599,
330628-330638, 330642-330643, 330645-330646,
330651-330652, 330661-330664, 330668, 330670,
330684-330699, 330712-330726.
Grotte de l'Autel and Grotte "au sable": Very numerous remains,
corresponding at least to 4 individuals (2 adults, 2 juveniles):
330745-330762.
REMARKS.—The high proportion of juveniles indicates that
both species of Puffinus were probably nesting in these cavities
or their surroundings. Puffinus pacificus now nests at Reunion
only on a small islet, accessible only with difficulty for humans
or introduced mammals, whereas P. Iherminieri nests in numerous
parts of the island (Jouanin, 1987). In the three caves,
P. pacificus is more numerous than P. Iherminieri, but at
present P. Iherminieri is much more common on the island.
Two other species of Procellariidae, Pseudobulweria aterrima
(Bonaparte) and Pterodroma baraui (Jouanin), now nest on
Reunion, at high altitudes. Subfossil remains of P. baraui have
been found in the Caverne a Cotte, at about 1800 m elevation
(Jouanin and Gill, 1967). In our fossil localities, which are situated
at low elevation, we did not find remains that can be attributed
to either of these species. The limited fossil evidence
therefore suggests that they may always have nested at higher
elevations than Puffinus.
Family PHAETHONTIDAE
Genus Phaethon Linnaeus
Phaethon lepturus Daudin, 1802
White-tailed Tropicbird
FIGURE 4/
MATERIAL.—Grotte des Premiers Francais: Part of skull,
1993-51.
Grotte de l'Autel: 1. coracoid, 330515 (Figure At).
REMARKS.—The internal length of the coracoid is 39.0 mm,
which falls within the range of variation of modern P. lepturus
(36.2^10.1, «=10) and is clearly smaller than in the other two
species, P. rubricauda Boddaert, the Red-tailed Tropicbird
(47.0-53.9, /i=24), and P. aethereus Linnaeus, the Red-billed
Tropicbird (47.0-50.4, «=7). Phaethon lepturus still nests on
Reunion.
Family ARDEIDAE
Genus Nycticorax Forster
Megaphoyx Hachisuka 1937b: 148 [type by original designation, Ardea megacephala
Milne-Edwards, 1874].
Each of the three Mascarene islands sustained an extinct species
of Nycticorax. The first of these species was described
from Rodrigues by Milne-Edwards (1874) under the name
Ardea megacephala. Giinther and Newton (1879) showed that
the Rodrigues heron belonged in the genus Nycticorax and that,
although its size was not very different from a large modern N.
nycticorax (Linnaeus), its wing bones were proportionally
shorter and its femur, tarsometatarsus, and pedal phalanges
proportionally longer. Actually, when compared with typical
N. nycticorax nycticorax, the wings are not very short, but the
femora, tibiotarsi, and tarsometatarsi are wider, longer, and
more robust (Cowles, 1987). Newton and Gadow (1893) described
a second, Mauritian species, Butorides mauritianus,
which is smaller than N. megacephalus, and then Rothschild
(1907) described a third species, from Reunion, under the name
of Ardea duboisi. Rothschild placed the three species in the genus
Ardea but wrote (1907:115): "From the short, stout legs
and general build, I am inclined to think that all three of these
Herons belong to the genus Nycticorax." Later, other authors
(Lambrecht, 1933; Hachisuka, 1953; Brodkorb, 1963) placed
the three species in different genera, and it was Cowles (1987)
who first formally united them in the genus Nycticorax.
Nycticorax duboisi (Rothschild, 1907), new combination
Reunion Night Heron
FIGURE 4a-h
"Butors ou Grands Gauziers" Dubois, 1674:169.
Ardea duboisi Rothschild, 1907:114 [based on birds described by Dubois
(1674) from Bourbon (= Reunion Island)].
Megaphoyx duboisi.—Hachisuka, 1953:175.
Nycticorax n. sp. Cowles, 1987:94.
Nycticorax borbonensis Cowles, 1994:90, fig.ld,e [new synonymy; holotype,
distal half of left tibiotarsus MNHN, LAC 1993-35, from bed 4, Grotte des
Premiers Francais (Grande Caverne), Reunion Island].
MATERIAL.—Grotte des Premiers Francais: Holotype of N.
borbonensis (see below).
Grotte de l'Autel: r. scapula, 330516.
Marais de l'Ermitage: r. scapula, 1866; 1. p. coracoid,
1831; 1. d. humerus, 1826; r. ulna, 1828; 1. p. ulna, 1832; r. femur,
1827; 2 r. d. tibiotarsi, 1829, 1830; r. tarsometatarsus,
1916; 2 1. d. tarsometatarsi, 1865, 1917.
DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISONS.—The material from
Reunion agrees perfectly with the genus Nycticorax. The different
species of this genus show much variation in size, the
largest being N. caledonicus (Gmelin), which lives in Indonesia,
Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and in some Pacific
archipelagos (Mayr and Cottrell, 1979). The remains of N.