Systematics

Three subspecies currently are recognized:

cubanensis, described as Antrostomus cubanensis Lawrence 1860; type locality Cienega de Zapata and coast of Manzanillo, Cuba

Occurs on Cuba; the population on the Zapata Peninsula is intermediate between cubanensis and insulaepinorum (Garrido 1983).

See Detailed Description.

insulaepinorum, described as Caprimulgus cubanensis insulaepinorum Garrido 1983; type locality on the road between Cabo Pepe and Cocodrilo, southern Isle of Pine

Occurs on the Isle of Youth (formerly known as Isle of Pines), Cuba.

Similar to nominate cubanensis, but "differing in its smaller size, shorter tail, and much darker coloration, especially on the pileum, back, breast, and wing coverts; barring on rectrices and primaries narrower and darker" (Garrido 1983).

ekmani, originally described as Antrostomus ekmani Lonnberg 1929; type locality near Jerémie, Haiti

Occurs on Hispaniola.

Similar to nominate cubanensis, but the crown is more heavily streaked, the undertail coverts are plain buff (lacking barring or vermiculations), and with broader pale tips to the outer rectrices: ca 35-63 mm white tips in the male, and ca 30 mm buff tips in the female (Cleere 1998).

Some authorities treat ekmani and cubanensis (together with insulaepinorum) as separate species, Antrostomus ekmani (Hispaniolan Nightjar) and Antrostomus cubanensis (Cuban Nightjar), based on the morphological and vocal differences between the populations of these two islands (Garrido and Reynard 1998, Cleere 1998).

For many years these taxa were classified in the genus Caprimulgus, a genus that eventually encompassed a large number of species of nightjars worldwide (Salvin and Hartert 1892, Peters 1940, Dickinson 2003). Phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequence data, from both mitochondrial and nuclear genes, reveals that the broadly defined Caprimulgus of Peters (1940) and other authors is highly polyphyletic (Han et al. 2010, Sigurdsson and Cracraft 2014). Caprimulgus proper is entirely confined to the Old World, and New World species of "Caprimulgus" are split into several clades; cubanensis, insulaepinorum, and ekmani belong to a clade that is restored to Antrostomus, and appear to be most closely related to Antrostomus carolinensis (Chuck-will's-widow) and Antrostomus rufus (Rufous Nightjar) (Sigurdsson and Cracraft 2014).