Abstract
In PNAS, Steadman and Franklin (1) make the argument that the large reduction in land area and shift in vegetation in the Bahamian Archipelago from ∼15–9 ka caused declines and extirpation of two bird species, the Eastern bluebird ( Sialia sialis ) and Hispaniolan crossbill ( Loxia megaplaga ). Their evidence for L. megaplaga resides in fossil bones from the Bahamian island of Abaco, representing eight individuals from >9 ka. Two of three qualitative traits from the only mandible recovered provided a better match for L. megaplaga than for red crossbills ( Loxia curvirostra ) from North America. However, their measurements of the postcranial bones for their other specimens do not allow one to eliminate the possibility that they represent L. curvirostra (Fig. 1). Fig. 1. Plots showing means and ranges of measurements of crossbill ( Loxia … [↵][1]1Email: cbenkman{at}uwyo.edu. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1
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