Jamaican poorwill

Jamaican poorwill
Illustration by George Edward Lodge, 1907

Critically endangered, possibly extinct  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Caprimulgiformes
Family: Caprimulgidae
Genus: Siphonorhis
Species: S. americana
Binomial name
Siphonorhis americana
(Linnaeus, 1758)

The Jamaican poorwill (Siphonorhis americana), also known as the Jamaican pauraque or Jamaican least pauraqué, is a species of nightjar in the Caprimulgidae family. It is endemic to Jamaica. Its natural habitats are tropical dry forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. It is critically endangered or possibly already extinct due to a combination of introduced predators and habitat destruction.[1]

An illustration of a specimen, from 1725 (top left)

The first formal description of the Jamaican poorwill was by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Caprimulgus americanus.[2][3]

References

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