Variation in West Indian Flickers (Aves, Colaptes)

Abstract

An analysis of the characters of three West Indian flickers (Colaptes auratus chrysocaulosus of Cuba, C. a. gundlachi of Grand Cayman and C. fernandinae of Cuba) is presented. Variation in about 30 characters is discussed, and results indicate that the two races of C. autatus comprise a distinctive subspecies group, the populations of which have undergone considerable divergence in long isolation from their conspecific relatives in continental North America. The chrysocaulosus subspecies group is derived from ancestral North American C. auratus, and exhibits certain traits thought to be primitive in this species. The race gundlachi is well-differentiated and originated from pre-chrysocaulosus stock from Cuba.

Fernandina's flicker (C. fernandinae) is sympatric with C. a. chrysocaulosus on Cuba, and is highly distinctive. However, it does not differ sufficiently from other species of Colaptes to warrant status as a monotypic 'genus' as currently recognized (genus Nesoceleus Sclater and Salvin). This species is apparently derived from very early North American flicker stock for the history of flicker-like woodpeckers dates back to the early Pliocene in North America, while no evidence indicates that flickers have ever occupied West indian islands other than Cuba and Grand Cayman.

Incipient geographic variation in C. a. chrysocaulosus makes it desirable to name a neotype of this form. Also a lectotype is designated from syntypical material of C. a. gundlachi.