Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958

Suárez, William, 2020, The fossil avifauna of the tar seeps Las Breas de San Felipe, Matanzas, Cuba, Zootaxa 4780 (1), pp. 1-53 : 31-32

† Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958

Cuban Giant Owl; Búho Gigante de Cuba

( Figure 12 : E–H)

Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958 , El Cartero Cubano, vol.17, no.7, p.12.

Referred material. San Felipe I: Right tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4804. San Felipe II: Distal end of the left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4807.

Description. This material does not differ in its gigantic size ( Fig. 12 E–H), or in characters described (see Arredondo 1958, 1976, 1982; Arredondo & Olson 1994) for the tarsometatarsus of Ornimegalonyx oteroi Arredondo, 1958 . In addition, it compares well with specimens of this species examined from other Cuban fossiliferous localities (see Appendix 1).

Measurements. Tarsometatarsus.—Total length: 166.9; proximal width: 32.7; least shaft width: 14.5; 15.3; distal width: 31.6; 34.1; width of trochlea metatarsi III: 12.2.

Comments. Remains of the Cuban Giant Owl are well known from other localities in Cuba ( Arredondo 1984) since the beginning of the second half of the last century ( Arredondo 1958:10). The material now treated here allows refinement of the initial identification published by Iturralde-Vinent et al. (2000).

Figures

FIGURE 12. Tyto cravesae: Left tarsometatarsus (Paratype, MNHNCu 75.4801) in anterior (A) and distal (B) views. Pulsatrix arredondoi: Left tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4808) in anterior (C) and proximal (D) views. Ornimegalonyx oteroi: Right tarsometatarsus (MNHNCu 75.4804) in anterior (E), proximal (F), distal (G) and posterior (H) views. Ornimegalonyx sp.: Right femur (MNHNCu 75.4714) in proximal (I) and anterior (J) views. Scale = 2 cm.