Ornimegalonyx ewingi Suárez, 2020

Suárez, William, 2022, Catalogue of Cuban fossil and subfossil birds, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 142 (1), pp. 247-248 : 50-51

29. † Ornimegalonyx ewingi Suárez, 2020

Ewing’s Owl (Búho de Ewing)

Ornimegalonyx ewingi Suárez, 2020b , Bull. Brit. Orn. Cl. 140: 391.

Bubo osvaldoi : Arredondo & Olson 1994: 438 (part).

History.— January 1947: Abelardo Moreno (Museo Felipe Poey, La Habana) sends to A. Wetmore (USNM) two fossil bones (type material) of a large bird collected in a ‘mine’ in eastern Cuba ( Arredondo & Olson 1994: 436, 438, Suárez 2020b: 391). 15 January 1959: Wetmore (1959: 15) announces the presence of an undescribed, extinct ‘large barn owl’ ( Tyto ) from ‘a cave in eastern Cuba’ (see Brodkorb 1959: 357, Olson’s footnote in Arredondo 1976: 172, Olson 1978: 105). 4 October 1994: material identified by Wetmore (1959), and three other fossils from western Cuba, are described as Bubo osvaldoi ( Arredondo & Olson 1994) . 9 December 2020: the type series of B. osvaldoi is revealed to be composite—including specimens from eastern Cuba representative of another large extinct owl—when the original description of O. ewingi is published (Suárez 2020b).

Holotype.—Right femur without anterior surface of head, piece of posterior face of shaft, and internal condyle, USNM 447022 ( Arredondo & Olson 1994: figs. 2A [anterior], 3*: A [posterior], B [anterior], C [proximal], Suárez 2020b: fig. 1C [anterior]). Collector and date unknown ( Arredondo & Olson 1994: 438, Suárez 2020b: 391; see Mayo 1980: 223).

Other material.— Humerus: left without proximal end and external part of distal articulation, USNM 447023 ( Arredondo & Olson 1994: figs. 3*D [palmar], 4B [palmar], Suárez 2020b: fig. 1B [palmar]). See Suárez (2020b: 391).

Type locality.— A ‘mine’ in the vicinity of Baire ( SMB), municipality of Contramaestre , Santiago de Cuba [formerly Oriente] province, Cuba (Suárez 2020b; see Arredondo & Olson 1994: 438, and ‘Notes’). Fig. 9 .

Distribution.—Restricted to the type locality in east Cuba (see Appendix). Santiago de Cuba. Contramaestre: SMB (Suárez 2020b: 391).

Direct 14 C dating .—None.

Notes.—Extremely rare. The smallest Ornimegalonyx (c.30% smaller than O. oteroi ). The type series of O. ewingi represents the first material to be collected of the genus (Suárez 2020b). Apparently, the type locality is the same deposit named by Aguayo & Howell Rivero (1955: 1302) as ‘minas de manganeso en Baire, Oriente’ [‘manganese mines in Baire, Oriente’], from where several mammalian fossils were sent to Museo Felipe Poey in 1942 (see Aguayo 1950: 122). Mayo (1980: 225) considered the locality to be possibly a cave (see Silva Taboada et al. 2008: 413). According to a distributional map published by Park (1942: pl. 21), a number of mines of this kind were known at that time not far from Baire. Some specimens from asphalt deposits at Las Breas de San Felipe, western Cuba, perhaps involve this taxon (Suárez 2020a: 32, 2020b: 391).

Figures

Figure 9. A ‘mine’ in the vicinity of Baire (SMB), Contramaestre, eastern Cuba. Type locality of †Ornimegalonyx ewingi Suárez. Note the star covers Baire and environs, but the precise location of the deposit is currently unknown.