An owal from the Paleocene of Walbeck, Germany

✍ Scribed by Gerald Mayr

• Book ID: 102949347
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2002
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1012 KB
• Volume: 5
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1435-1943
• DOI: 10.1002/mmng.20020050117

✦ Synopsis

An owl of the genus Berruornis is described from a Paleocene fissure filling of Walbeck, Germany. The specimen is a well preserved incomplete right tarsometatarsus and is the earliest Old World record of an owl. A praemaxilla from the same locality which comes from a similarly-sized raptorial bird is described and is clearly distinguished from the praemaxilla of all extant raptorial birds. Although it might also belong to Berruornis, the specimen is classified as Aves incertae sedis in this study. Despite the fact that the Walbeck material was discovered more than 60 years ago, these two specimens are the first bird bones to be described from the numerous avian remains found at this locality.