25. † Tyto maniola Suárez & Olson, 2020

Cuban Dwarf Barn Owl (Lechuza Enana de Cuba)

Tyto maniola Suárez & Olson, 2020a, Zootaxa 4830: 552.

Tyto sp.: Suárez 2020a: 29.

History.— February–March 1997: two specimens collected in cave deposits in west Cuba (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 558) . November 1998: holotype collected by members of MNHNCu in asphalt deposits (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 558). December 2003: first notice of this extinct, small barn owl, appears in the original description of a fossil phyllostomid bat from Cuba (Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003: 375) . 14 August 2020: original description published (Suárez & Olson 2020a).

Holotype.—Proximal half of left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4651 (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 552, fig. 6: A [anterior], B [posterior], C [proximal], D [external], E [internal]; fig. 7B [anterior]). Collected in San Felipe II during 25–28 November 1998 by members of Depto. de Geología y Paleontología of MNHNCu.

Other material.— Humerus: right, WS 0.435, immature (fig. 3B [dorsal]). Ulna: near-complete right, WS 0.436, fig. 3F [palmar]). Carpometacarpus: right fragmentary, MNHNCu 75.4654. Tarsometatarsus: proximal right, MNHNCu 75.4656; distal right, MNHNCu 75.4652 (fig. 7F [anterior]); proximal left without inner calcaneal ridge, MNHNCu 75.4655 (fig. 7: C [anterior]), H [proximal]); distal left, MNHNCu 75.4657 (fig. 7: G [anterior], I [distal]). Cited material and figures from Suárez & Olson (2020a).

Type locality.—Las Breas de San Felipe (MLB), c. 5.5 km west of the town of Martí, San Felipe Valley, municipality of Martí, Matanzas province, Cuba (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 552; for description of this deposit see Iturralde-Vinent et al. 2000). Fig. 5.

Distribution.—Cave and asphalt deposits in west Cuba (see Appendix). Pinar del Río. Los Palacios: PEA (Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003: 375 [‘small, undescribed species of Tyto ’], Suárez 2004b: 156 [‘a new species of Tyto ’], Suárez & Olson 2020a: 556 [but not ‘municipality of La Palma’]). Artemisa. Caimito: ACP (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 556). Matanzas. Martí: MLB = type locality (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 552 [‘ Tyto maniola, new species’]).

Direct 14 C dating .—None. For dating of other bird species at the type locality, see Antigone cubensis, Gymnogyps varonai and Ornimegalonyx oteroi, and of associated extinct mammals ( Parocnus browni = 11,880 ± 420 to 4,960 ± 280 years 14 C BP), see Jull et al. (2004) and Steadman et al. (2005). For dating of associated fauna at PEA ( Tyto noeli), see Suárez & Díaz-Franco (2003: 373).

Notes.—Uncommon, currently unknown from sinkhole deposits. The smallest Cuban tytonid, living or extinct, being also smaller when compared to skeletal elements of Ashyfaced Owl T. glaucops (Kaup, 1852) —and its synonym T. cavatica Wetmore, 1920 —of Hispaniola (Suárez & Olson 2020a: 556).