83
ASTUR ALPHONSINEWT. & GAD.
- Astur sp. Milne-Edwards, Ann. Sci. Nat. (5) XIX, Art. II, pp. 25, 26, pl. 15 fig. 2. (1874).
- Astur alphonsi Newton and Gadow, Trans. Zool. Soc. XIII p. 285, pl. XXXIII, figs. 9, 10. (1893).
Messrs. Newton and Gadow bestowed the name Astur alphonsi on a pair of tibiae, a pair of metatarsals, and the metacarpals of the left side of a goshawk apparently of the same size and relative proportions as A. melanoleucus of South Africa. They justified their description of this goshawk as a distinct species, first of all by the fact that most of the Mascarene extinct species were distinct; and then because the bony ridge for the M. flexor digitorum communis was more strongly developed, the fibula reached further down the tibia, the peroneal crest was straighter and longer, and the cnemial crest slanted more gradually into the anterior inner edge of the shaft of the tibia.
Milne-Edwards gives the measurements of the solitary tarso-metatarsus of this bird which he had for examination as follows:—
| Total length | 80 | mm. |
| Width at proximal extremity | 11 | " |
| Width at distal extremity | 13 | " |
| Width at smallest part of shaft | 6 | " |
Messrs. Gadow and Newton give the length of their tarso-metatarsi as 81 mm., of their tibiae as 117 mm., and of the metacarpals as 55 mm.
Habitat: Mauritius.
Seven tarsi in the Tring Museum.
