Pauraque
species of bird
The pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) – also called the common pauraque to distinguish it from similar species – is a nightjar species, one of two birds in the genus Nyctidromus. It breeds in the subtropical and tropical regions of the New World, and except for northernmost birds it is largely resident all year round.
Taxonomy
The pauraque was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other nightjars in the genus Caprimulgus and coined the binomial name Caprimulgus albicollis. Gmelin based his description on the "white-throated goatsucker" that had been described in 1783 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had examined a preserved specimen in London that was thought to have come from Cayenne, French Guiana. The pauraque is now placed with Anthony's nightjar in the genus Nyctidromus that was introduced in 1838 by the English ornithologist John Gould. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek nukti- meaning "nocturnal" or "night-" with -dromos meaning "-racer". The specific epithet albicollis combines the Latin albus meaning "white" with the Modern Latin "-collis" meaning "-necked".
The common name "pauraque" may be an onomatopoeia from the bird's wailing call.
“Pauraque” enters the record as species of bird. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Pauraque, species and bird can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Pauraque” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Pauraque, species and bird provides the most credible route into that argument.
The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 3, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1122212. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1789, 1783 and 1838.
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This entry incorporates text from “Pauraque” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.