The asphalt miniature owl (''Asphaltoglaux cecileae'') is an extinct species of
true owl
The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...
which existed in what is now
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
U.S.A.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
during the
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...
epoch.
The species is known from the
La Brea Tar Pits
La Brea Tar Pits is an active paleontological research site in urban Los Angeles. Hancock Park was formed around a group of tar pits where natural asphalt (also called asphaltum, bitumen, or pitch; ''brea'' in Spanish) has seeped up from the gro ...
. Its
osteology
Osteology () is the scientific study of bones, practised by osteologists. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and paleontology, osteology is the detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, microbone morphology, funct ...
suggests a close relation to the owls of the genus ''
Aegolius
''Aegolius'' is a genus of small true owls. The genus name is from Latin, ''aegolius'', is a type of screech owl that was thought to be a bird of ill omen.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Aegolius'' was introduced in 1829 by the German naturalist Johann J ...
''.
See also
*''
Glaucidium kurochkini
Kurochkin's pygmy owl (''Glaucidium kurochkini'') is an extinct species of pygmy owl that existed in what is now California, U.S.A. during the Late Pleistocene Epoch.
Discovery and naming
The holotype of ''Glaucidium kurochkini'' is LACM RLB K9 ...
'', a
pygmy owl species also known from the La Brea Tar Pits
*''
Oraristrix
The La Brea owl (''Oraristix brea'') is an extinct owl reported from the upper Pleistocene asphalt deposits of the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, California. It was first described in 1933 by Hildegarde Howard as ''Strix brea'', but this extinc ...
'', another, much larger owl from the La Brea Tar Pits
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2881753
Pleistocene birds of North America
Strigidae
Birds described in 2012
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds