Tyto maniola Suárez & Olson, 2020

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 44-45

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).