Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb, 1969

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

† Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb, 1969

Arredondo’s Owl; Búho de Arredondo

( Figure 12 : C–D)

Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb, 1969 , Quart. Jour. Florida Acad. Sci., Vol. 31, no.2, p.112.

Referred material. San Felipe II: Proximal half of the left tarsometatarsus, MNHNCu 75.4808.

Description. The tarsometatarsus MNHNCu 75.4808, despite being fragmentary, does not match that of any other Cuban owl in its size and robustness ( Fig. 12 C–D). It is referred to Pulsatrix arredondoi Brodkorb, 1969 , by the shortness of its preserved shaft and by the marked anteroposterior curvature, diagnostic of this taxon ( Brodkorb 1969; Arredondo & González Gotera 1982). The bone is also wide and recall the proportions in the much smaller tarsometatarsi present in species of Glaucidium Boie , but also Surnia Linnaeus.

Measurements (holotype of Pulsatrix arredondoi in parentheses, after Brodkorb 1969:113). Tarsometatarsus.—Proximal width: 12.0 (14.1); length of the base of the inner calcaneal ridge: 13.0 (13.6); depth of the outer edge: 4.4 (4.1).

Comments. This is the first record of the species for Las Breas de San Felipe. Pulsatrix arredondoi is known from caves deposits located in western and central Cuba ( Arredondo 1984; Cuello 1988; Arredondo & Olson 1994; O. Jiménez Vázquez comm. pers. 2011).

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.