Protostrigidae is a prehistoric family of owls which occurred in North America, Europe, and Asia during the Eocene and early Oligocene periods. Genera include ''

Eostrix ''Eostrix'' is a genus of extinct primitive owls in the family Protostrigidae, along with ''Oligostrix'' and ''Minerva''. These owls date from the early Eocene of the United States, Europe, and Mongolia. They have been described based on fossil ...

'', ''

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the Roma ...

'', '' Oligostrix'', and '' Primoptynx.''''Primoptynx poliotauros'':
Gerald Mayr, Philip D. Gingerich, Thierry Smith
Skeleton of a new owl from the early Eocene of North America (Aves, Strigiformes) with an accipitrid-like foot morphology
in: Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, published online July 28, 2020; doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1769116.
55-Million-Year-Old Fossil of Large-Sized Owl Found in Wyoming
on: sci-news, Jul 31, 2020. In 1983,

Cécile Mourer-Chauviré Cécile Mourer-Chauviré (born 1939) is a French paleontologist specializing in birds of the Eocene and the Oligocene. In her early career, she discovered with her husband the Laang Spean cave site of prehistoric humans in Cambodia. Career Céc ...

demonstrated that ''Protostrix'' is a junior synonym of ''Minerva''. Protostrigidae characteristics include strong first and second toes as well as a widened medial condyle of the

tibiotarsus The tibiotarsus is the large bone between the femur and the tarsometatarsus in the leg of a bird. It is the fusion of the proximal part of the tarsus with the tibia. A similar structure also occurred in the Mesozoic Heterodontosauridae. These sm ...

References

Eocene birds of North America Eocene birds of Europe Eocene animals of Asia Prehistoric bird families {{Strigiformes-stub