''Palaeoglaux'' is a genus of fossil owls from the Eocene epoch. The two known species are ''P. perrierensis'' from the Upper Eocene of Quercy, France, and ''P. artophoron'' from the Middle Eocene

Messel shales The Messel pit (german: Grube Messel) is a disused quarry near the village of Messel ( Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg, Hesse) about southeast of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Bituminous shale was mined there. Because of its abundance of well-preserv ...

, Germany.Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (1987) "The owls (Aves:strigiformes) of Phosphorites Du Quercy (France) systematics, biostratigraphy, and paleobiogeography" pp.89-136 in "Documents des laboratoires de geologie Lyon" Départment des Sciences de la Terre, Université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1. The holotype of ''P. perrierensis'' is a partial left coracoid in the Collection Université Montpellier, accession number PRR 2585. The four paratypes are the distal part of a left humerus (PRR2591), the proximal part of a left ulna (PRR 2571), the distal part of a left ulna (PRR 2578), and the distal part of a right tarsometatarsus (PRR 2576). The type specimen of ''P. artophoron'' is a fossil slab and counterslab containing most of the postcranial skeleton and some feather impressions. This specimen is in the collection of the Forschunginstitut Senckenberg, accession number SMF-ME 1144 A and B. The feathers of ''P. artophoron'' show some unique characteristics. The feathers on the trunk are about wide and long. They appear to be membranous and ribbon-like, without barbs. This may be an artifact of preservation, but eight nearby primaries show barbs quite clearly. Peters noted that ribbon-like, elongated plumes are known from some living birds, but all are used in display. He writes that display feathers are unexpected in a

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

owl and wonders if this lineage of owls was, in fact, diurnal.Peters, Dieter Stefan (1992) "A new species of owl (Aves:Strigiformes) from the Middle Eocene Messel oil shale" pp. 161-169 in "Papers in Avian paleontology honoring Pierce Brodkorp" edited by Kenneth Campbell, Jr. NO. 36 Science Series Natural history Museum of Los Angeles County. Diurnal owls do, in fact, exist today, in the form of the burrowing owl, the northern hawk-owl and the snowy owl. Paleoglaux-artophoron-hccmoss

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q7126418

† A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...

Eocene birds Eocene genus extinctions Prehistoric birds of Europe Paleogene France Fossils of France Quercy Phosphorites Formation