Tyto noeli Arredondo, 1972

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 42-43

23. † Tyto noeli Arredondo, 1972

Noel’s Giant Barn Owl (Lechuza Gigante de Noel)

Tyto noeli Arredondo, 1972a (part), Bol. Soc. Venez. Cienc. Nat . 29: 416.

Tyto noelli : Arredondo 1972a: table 5 (lapsus calami).

Tyto neddi : Steadman & Hilgartner 1999: 76.

Tyto noelii : Bolufé Torres 2016: 41 (lapsus calami).

History.— 7 September 1959: first material collected by O. Arredondo and members of GEC at a cave deposit in western Cuba ( Arredondo 1972a: 416). 3 March 1968: the holotype is secured by O. Arredondo and N. González Gotera in a cave in western Cuba ( Arredondo 1972a: 417). 5 February 1971: first published news of this extinct large barn owl ( Arredondo 1971: 95–96). March 1972: original description published ( Arredondo 1972a) based on a composite type series (see ‘Notes’). December 2003: material of T. noeli from Cueva El Abrón, western Cuba, is dated (14 C), the first extinct bird from Cuba to be so analysed ( Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003: 373). 23 September 2015: first direct comparisons between all large extinct barn owls in the West Indies ( Suárez & Olson 2015), with result that ‘ Tyto neddi ’ described on fragmentary material from Barbuda, Lesser Antilles ( Steadman & Hilgartner 1999: 76), is considered a junior synonym of T. noeli . Fossils from Jamaica are also identified as the latter taxon.

Holotype.—Right tarsometatarsus, DPUH 1251 ( Arredondo 1972a: 416–417, fig. 1 [anterior], 1972b, fig. 4*B: top [distal], bottom [anterior], 1975: fig. 23B [anterior], 1976: 183, fig. 11B [anterior], 1982: 38, fig. 1 [image with wrong number ‘3’]: right [anterior]). Collected on 3 March 1968 by Noel González Gotera and Oscar Arredondo at the type locality ( Arredondo 1972a: 417).

Other material.— Coracoid: right, OA 839 ( Arredondo 1972a: 417, fig. 2 [images in figs. 2 and 4 of the original description are therein reversed]: 6 [ventral], 1976: 183, fig. 10e: right [ventral]). Ulna: proximal, OA 806 ( Arredondo 1972a: 417, fig. 2: 5, top [palmar], 1976: 183, fig. 10b: bottom right [palmar]), and distal, OA 815 ( Arredondo 1972a: 417, fig. 2: 5, bottom [palmar], 1976: 183, fig. 10b: top right [palmar]), ends of right. Femur: right, OA 818 ( Arredondo 1972a: 417, fig. 2: 1 [anterior], 1976: 183, fig. 10d: right [anterior], 1982: 38, fig. 1 [image wrongly numbered ‘3’]: left [anterior]); left, OA 834. Tibiotarsus: proximal half of right, OA 827; shaft of right, OA 822; distal end of left, OA 812. These three specimens formed a reconstructed element ( Arredondo 1972a: 417, fig. 2: 3 [posterior], 1976: 183, fig. 10c: right [posterior]). Collected by O. Arredondo and members of GEC in September 1959 (see ‘History’) at ‘Salón del Pozo’, ACP, and during November–December 1963 and January–March 1968 by N. González Gotera and Arredondo at the type locality ( Arredondo 1972a: 415–416). See T. cravesae Suárez & Olson for specimens formerly included in the type series of T. noeli .

Type locality.—Cueva del Túnel ( YTU), c. 3 km south-east of La Salud, municipality of Quivicán, Mayabeque [formerly La Habana] province, Cuba ( Arredondo 1972a: 417). Type material from this locality was collected at a place known as ‘Bolsón de los Huesos del Salón del Depósito’ (see Acevedo González et al. 1975: 16, 19–20, figs. 4–5). Fig. 7.

Distribution.—Cave deposits across the Cuban archipelago (see Appendix). Pinar del Río. Los Palacios: PEA ( Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003: 373, Suárez 2004b: 156–157). Artemisa. Caimito: ACP ( Arredondo 1972a: 417 [part], 1972c: table 1 [part], 1982: 39 [part], 1984: 21 [part], Suárez & Olson 2001a: 37, Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: table 1 [part], 2002b: table 1 [part], Suárez & Olson 2015: 541), ASA ( Suárez 2000b: table 1, Suárez & Olson 2001a: 37, Arredondo & Arredondo 2002a: table 1, Suárez 2004a: 124, Suárez & Olson 2015: 541–542). La Habana. Boyeros: HCI ( Arredondo 1976: 183, 1982: 39, 1984: 21, Suárez & Olson 2015: 542). Mayabeque. Quivicán: YBL (Jiménez Vázquez et al. 1995: 25, Arredondo & Arredondo 2002b: table 1, Suárez & Olson 2015: 542), YTU = type locality ( Arredondo 1972a: 416 [‘ Tyto noeli sp. nov. ’ (part)], 1976: 183 [part], Acevedo González et al. 1975: 19 [part], Arredondo 1982: 38 [part], 1984: 21 [part], Arredondo & Arredondo 2002b: table 1 [part], Suárez & Olson 2015: 542), YIN and YCH ( Suárez & Olson 2015: 542), YCC ( Jiménez & Orihuela 2021: 169). Matanzas. Cárdenas: MCE ( Orihuela 2013: 13, 2019: 62, fig. 4 = ulna: A [palmar], B [anconal], D [dorsal]). Sancti Spíritus. Yaguajay: SPS ( Suárez 2004b: 157). Sancti Spíritus: SPM ( Arredondo 1976: 183, 1982: 39, 1984: 21, Suárez & Olson 2015: 542). Ciego de Ávila. Florencia: GCJ ( Suárez & Olson 2015: 542). Holguín. Gibara: OCB (cf. LMR).

Direct 14 C dating .—Late Pleistocene ( PEA): 17,406 ± 161 14 C yr BP. Calibration (95% confidence interval) of same sample gave ages from 21,474 to 20,050 14 C yr BP ( Suárez & Díaz-Franco 2003: 373, long bones). For discussion of age of material from other islands, see Suárez & Olson (2015: 543).

Notes.—The commonest and smallest of the three (not ‘four large barn-owls’ as stated by Orihuela 2019: 57) Cuban giant barn owls in cave deposits ( Arredondo 1984: 22, Suárez & Olson 2015: 542) is currently unknown from tar seep or sinkhole deposits (Suárez 2020a: 29–30). The composite type series of this taxon included specimens of the larger T. cravesae . Also recorded from cave deposits in Jamaica, Greater Antilles, and Barbuda, Lesser Antilles ( Suárez & Olson 2015: 543).