Tyto ostologa Wetmore

Suárez, William & Olson, Storrs L., 2015, Systematics and distribution of the giant fossil barn owls of the West Indies (Aves: Strigiformes: Tytonidae), Zootaxa 4020 (3), pp. 533-553 : 536-538

Tyto ostologa Wetmore

Hispaniolan Giant Barn Owl; Lechuza Gigante de La Española ( Figs. 3 D; 4B, F; 7F; 8B)

Tyto ostologa Wetmore, 1922: 2 (type locality “large cave [= Grotte San Francisco] northeast of St. Michel de L’Atalaye, Republic of Haiti ”).

Holotype. Proximal end of left tarsometatarsus USNM 10746. Collected on 4–5 March 1921, by J. S. Brown and W. S. Burbank.

Material examined. Grotte San Francisco, ca. 3 km northeast of St. Michel and caves above L’Atalaye, Haiti. — Coracoid: complete left ( USNM 543279; USNM 543360, fragmentary; USNM 543367), scapular half of left ( USNM 543362–543363), scapular end of left ( USNM 543364), shaft of left ( USNM 543361), complete right ( USNM 543278), scapular end of right ( USNM 543365), sternal half of right ( USNM 543366). Humerus: proximal third of left ( USNM 543374–543375), proximal left ( USNM 543376), shaft of left ( USNM 543368), proximal third of right ( USNM 543373), proximal shaft of right ( USNM 543369), distal right ( USNM 543370, with travertine— 543372; USNM 543377, juvenile). Ulna: complete left ( USNM 543327), proximal third of left ( USNM 543330– 543331, USNM 543343), proximal left ( USNM 543344), distal left ( USNM 543334, USNM 543336–543338, USNM 543340, USNM 543342), complete right ( USNM 543326; USNM 543328, with travertine), proximal half of right ( USNM 543333, with travertine and lacking proximal end), proximal right ( USNM 543332), distal half of right ( USNM 543329), distal right ( USNM 543335, USNM 543339, USNM 543341). Carpometacarpus: nearly complete left ( USNM 543378–543379, both abraded and lacking metacarpal III), proximal half of left ( USNM 543384–543385), right ( USNM 543282, lacking metacarpal III and part of distal symphysis), proximal half of right ( USNM 543380–543382), proximal right ( USNM 543383), distal half of right ( USNM 543386–543387, both abraded and lacking metacarpal III). Femur: complete left ( USNM 543284; USNM 543301, with travertine), nearly complete left ( USNM 543293, lacking proximal end), proximal half of left ( USNM 543290, juvenile–543291; USNM 543295, without trochanter), proximal end of left ( USNM 543288, fragmentary—543289; USNM 543299– 543300), proximal fragment of left ( USNM unnumbered, juvenile), distal left ( USNM 543287; USNM unnumbered, without condyles), complete right ( USNM 543277, abraded; USNM 543283, abraded; USNM 543286; USNM unnumbered, juvenile), incomplete right ( USNM 543285, lacking distal end), proximal right ( USNM 543296), distal right ( USNM 543281; USNM 543294, with travertine; USNM 543297, fragmentary lacking condyles—543298). Tibiotarsus: proximal half of left ( USNM 543346, lacking cnemial crests—543347), proximal third of left ( USNM 543349, fragmentary), proximal left ( USNM 543348, fragmentary; USNM 543350, lacking inner cnemial crest), distal half of left ( USNM 543351; USNM 543353, lacking posterior portions of external condyle), distal left ( USNM 543356–543357, lacking posterior portions of condyles; USNM 543279), proximal right ( USNM 543345, lacking distal third and cnemial crests), distal right ( USNM 543355; USNM 543358, juvenile and fragmentary). Tarsometatarsus: nearly complete left ( USNM 543276, lacking inner calcaneal ridge; USNM 543302, lacking fragments of shaft and part of trochleae for digits II and IV), proximal third of left ( USNM 543311, with travertine), proximal left ( USNM 10746, holotype; USNM 543310, lacking external cotyla and intercotylar prominence; USNM 543312, lacking inner calcaneal ridge), distal half of left ( USNM 543306, partially abraded and lacking trochlea for digit—IV 543307, external side only preserved), distal left ( USNM 543303–543304; USNM 543308–543309, with travertine), nearly complete right ( USNM 543313, juvenile, lacking trochlea for digit III and inner calcaneal ridge—543314, lacking proximal end and trochlea for digit III; 543317, lacking external cotyla and trochleae, with travertine), proximal half of right ( USNM 543318), proximal third of right ( USNM 543315, lacking intercotylar prominence and inner calcaneal ridge), proximal right ( USNM 543320, fragmentary; USNM 543322–543324, all fragmentary), distal right ( USNM 543316, lacking trochlea for digit IV, with travertine; USNM 543319; USNM 543321; USNM 543325, lacking trochlea for digit IV), trochleae for digits II and IV ( USNM 10747, paratypes).

We have also examined uncatalogued fossils of various elements of this species from three localities in the Dominican Republic in the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville (see Steadman & Hilgartner 1999).

Emended diagnosis. Larger than Tyto noeli , slightly smaller, or similar in size to some specimens of T. pollens , but consistently less robust, carpometacarpus proportionately shorter than in other species, tarsometatarsus with expanded fossa parahypotarsalis medialis.

Measurements. See Table 1 – 2 .

Measurement Tyto cravesae Tyto ostologa Tyto pollens Tyto noeli

( Cuba) (Hispaniola) ( Bahamas) ( Cuba) Range (mean) n Range (mean) n Range (mean) n Range (mean) n

Femur

Proximal width 15.5–16.1 (15.8) 3 15.0–17.3 (16.4) 12 15.9–16.8 c (16.3) 2 12.5–14.5 (13.6) 10

Proximal depth 9.6–9.9 (9.7) 3 9.1–10.2 (9.7) 9 — 7.8–8.9 (8.3) 9

Depth of head 6.6 6.6–7.4 (6.9) 13 7.0 5.5–6.2 (5.9) 5

Shaft width at midpoint 6.7–6.8 (6.75) 2 6.6–7.4 (7.0) 10 8.1–8.2 c (8.15) 2 5.6–6.3 (6.0) 12

Shaft depth at midpoint 7.9–8.1 (8.0) 2 5.9–7.2 (6.7) 10 7.5 5.5–6.7 (6.1) 12

Distal width 16.3 16.5–18.3 (17.3) 9 a 18.1 c 13.4–15.4 (14.4) 10

Depth of internal condyle 10.5–10.8 (10.7) 2 10.9–11.9 (11.5) 8 — 8.6–10.0 (9.3) 10

Depth of external condyle 12.9+ 13.7–15.2 (14.5) 9 — 11.4–12.5 (12.0) 11

Tibiotarsus

Shaft depth at midpoint 7.3 6.8–7.5 (7.2) 6 7.5 (7.5) 2 5.8–6.4 (6.0) 4

Shaft width proximal to

condyles 12.0 10.8–13.3 (12.7) 13 14.5–15.0 (14.7) 2 9.3–11.2 (10.2) 11

Distal width 15.1–15.3 (15.2) 2 16.0–17.6 (16.9) 12 b 16.7 b 13.0–14.2 (13.6) 6

Tarsometatarsus

Length 93.7 91.4–96.2 (94.0) 3 98.6–98.8 (98.7) 2 84.6–91.5 (88.5) 4 Proximal width 15.2–15.9 (15.6) 2 16.1–17.8 (17.3) 9 17.6–18.0 (17.8) 2 b 12.5–14.5 (13.6) 10 Depth of external cotyla 10.3–10.5 (10.4) 2 9.5–11.2 (10.5) 6 10.6–12.6 (11.6) 2 8.2–9.3 (8.9) 5 Depth of internal cotyla 9.7–10.2 (9.9) 2 9.4–11.2 (10.4) 12 10.7–10.8 (10.75) 2 8.3–9.5 (8.9) 4 Depth through inner calcaneal

ridge 11.5–11.9 (11.7) 2 11.3–13.5 (12.3) 5 13.1 10.5–10.9 (10.7) 3 Shaft width at midpoint 6.8–7.2 (7.0) 4 5.7–7.7 (7.2) 6 8.4–8.7 (8.5) 2 5.3–6.7 (6.1) 16 Shaft depth at midpoint 5.7–6.4 (6.1) 4 5.0–6.6 (6.2) 6 6.6–6.9 (6.7) 2 4.9–6.7 (5.4) 16 Distal width 17.3–18.2 (17.8) 5 18.4–20.4 (19.7) 9 20.2–21.1 b (20.6) 2 14.4–17.3 (15.7) 12 Width of trochlea for digit III 6.6 6.4–7.7 (7.1) 12 7.2–7.7 (7.4) 3 5.5–6.2 (5.8) 7 Depth of trochlea for digit IV 12.6–12.8 (12.7) 2 9.8–13.5 (12.4) 8 14.9–15.0 (14.95) 2 b 9.5–12.0 (10.5) 10 a Steadman & Hilgartner (1999:79, table 2). b Olson & Hilgartner (1982:37, table 8). c Wetmore (1937:438).

+ Abraded.

Distribution. Hispaniola in north-central and southern Haiti and southern Dominican Republic.

Remarks. Tyto ostologa was described from three fragments of a single tarsometatarsus and the distal end of a right radius collected in Quaternary cave deposits in north-central Haiti in 1921 ( Wetmore 1922). It was later noted that the name of the cave from which the type material was obtained was Grotte San Francisco ( Wetmore & Swales 1931: 237). The postcranial elements obtained at the type locality and nearby caves above L'Atalaye in 1925 and 1927–1928 ( Miller 1926, 1929; Wetmore & Swales 1931; Wetmore 1959) are at USNM and are mostly fragmentary and often still incrusted with travertine (see Material examined). Although this additional material was never described and has remained uncatalogued, it provided the basis for later comparisons of T. ostologa ( Wetmore 1937; Olson & Hilgartner 1982; Steadman & Hilgartner 1999), and the present study. In the collections of the Florida Museum of Natural History, there is fossil material of T. ostologa from at least five cave localities, excavated from 1978 to 1984 by C. A. Woods & colleagues (see Woods et al. 1985) in southern Haiti and southern Dominican Republic ( Steadman & Hilgartner 1999: 76), so the species probably occurred throughout the island of Hispaniola in pre-human times.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Left humeri in anconal view (A, B) and right carpometacarpi in external view (C, D) of giant species of Tyto from the West Indies: A, T. cravesae, new species (holotype) MNHNCu 75.590; B, T. noeli (large) WS 980; C, T. cravesae, new species (holotype) MNHNCu 75.590; D, T. ostologa USNM 543378, image reversed to facilitate comparisons. Scale = 1 cm.