Ogygoptynx
Sign in to saveOgygoptynx is an extinct monotypic genus of owls from the Paleocene of North America. Its only species is Ogygoptynx wetmorei and it is the only genus in the family Ogygoptyngidae. It is the earliest known owl fossil in the world.
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Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy and systematics
- Significance
- References
Ogygoptynx is an extinct monotypic genus of owls from the Paleocene of North America. Its only species is Ogygoptynx wetmorei and it is the only genus in the family Ogygoptyngidae. It is the earliest known owl fossil in the world.
== Taxonomy and systematics == The genus Ogygoptynx, its sole species, Ogygoptynx wetmorei, and the family Ogygoptyngidae, were all established by paleontologists Patricia Vickers Rich and David J. Bohaska in 1976, based on a single tarsometatarsus (ankle bone) recovered from Late Paleocene (Tiffanian) deposits in Colorado, USA.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ogygoptynx” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.