The La Brea owl (''Oraristix brea'') is an extinct

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

reported from the upper

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

deposits of 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 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California. It was first described in 1933 by

Hildegarde Howard Hildegarde Howard (April 3, 1901 – February 28, 1998) was an American pioneer in paleornithology, mentored by the famous ornithologist, Joseph Grinnell, at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology (MVZ) and in avian paleontology.Joyce Harvey & Marilyn O ...

as ''Strix brea'', but this extinct owl was recently placed into its own genus by Campbell and Bocheński (2010). The Brea owl has also been found in the upper Pleistocene asphalt deposits of

Carpinteria, California Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning "Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 U ...

. ''Oraristrix brea'' is interpreted as more terrestrial in habits than forest owls because, compared to North American species of ''

Bubo A bubo (Greek βουβών, ''boubṓn'', 'groin') is adenitis or inflammation of the lymph nodes and is an example of reactive lymphadenopathy. Classification Buboes are a symptom of bubonic plague and occur as painful swellings in the thigh ...

'' and ''

Strix Strix may refer to: * Strix (mythology), a legendary creature of ancient Roman mythology * ''Strix'' (bird), a genus of large "earless" wood-owls * Strix Ltd, manufacturer of kettle controls, thermostats and water boiling elements for domestic ap ...

'', it had longer legs relative to its wingspan.

References

* * Strigidae Pleistocene birds of North America Fossil taxa described in 2010 {{Paleo-bird-stub Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Extinct monotypic bird genera

See also

References