The World’s Oldest Owl: A New Strigiform from the Paleocene of Southwestern Colorado

Vickers-Rich, Patricia; Bohaska, David J.

The World’s Oldest Owl: A New Strigiform from the Paleocene of Southwestern Colorado

Vickers-Rich, Patricia;Bohaska, David J.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.27.87

Date: 1976

Abstract:

Among the fossils recovered from a small, mid-Paleocene fissure filling in southwestern Colorado is the oldest known owl, Ogygoptynx wetmorei, new genus and species. This form, represented by a single tarsometatarsus, does not clearly belong in any of the known families of Strigiformes and may represent a new higher category of owls that provides a link between the Strigidae and the Tytonidae.

Citation:

Vickers-Rich, Patricia and Bohaska, David J. 1976. "The World’s Oldest Owl: A New Strigiform from the Paleocene of Southwestern Colorado." In Collected papers in avian paleontology honoring the 90th birthday of Alexander Wetmore. 87–93. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. In Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, 27. https://doi.org/10.5479/si.00810266.27.87.

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