Post by surroundx on May 21, 2022 23:48:43 GMT
Evidence of a Late Holocene giant barn owl (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae) in Guadeloupe
doi.org/10.55431/jco.2022.35.40-46
This paper describes a partial pedal phalanx of an extinct species of barn owl from Guadeloupe. The morphology
and size of the bone fragment allow it to be referred to as a giant Tyto without further specification. In addition to the Tyto noeli specimens described from a Quaternary deposit on Barbuda, this remain represents the second occurrence of a giant barn owl in the Lesser Antilles, and is the first record from Guadeloupe. The specimen was recovered from a pre-Columbian midden dated to between the 11th and 16th centuries, indicating that this tytonid had persisted in the Lesser Antilles up to the European colonization of the Caribbean. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the giant owl went extinct along with, and potentially because of, the disappearance of the endemic, medium-sized rodents on which they preyed.
and size of the bone fragment allow it to be referred to as a giant Tyto without further specification. In addition to the Tyto noeli specimens described from a Quaternary deposit on Barbuda, this remain represents the second occurrence of a giant barn owl in the Lesser Antilles, and is the first record from Guadeloupe. The specimen was recovered from a pre-Columbian midden dated to between the 11th and 16th centuries, indicating that this tytonid had persisted in the Lesser Antilles up to the European colonization of the Caribbean. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the giant owl went extinct along with, and potentially because of, the disappearance of the endemic, medium-sized rodents on which they preyed.
doi.org/10.55431/jco.2022.35.40-46