E. mimica (Wetmore, 1938) E. martinellii Martin & Black, 1972 E. vincenti Harrison 1980 E. tsaganica Kurochkin& Dyke 2011
Eostrix is a genus of extinct primitive
owls in the family
Protostrigidae, along with Oligostrix and Minerva.[1] These owls date from the early
Eocene of the
United States,
Europe, and
Mongolia. They have been described based on fossil remains. The genus was created by
Pierce Brodkorb in 1971 to place a fossil species known until that time as Protostrix mimica.
The following species are recognised:
E. mimica described in 1938 by
Alexander Wetmore using hindlimb elements in Eocene strata in Wyoming.[1]
E. martinellii was described in 1972 from a left
tarsometatarsus (lower leg bone) recovered from an escarpment above the southeastern bank of Cottonwood Creek in
Fremont County, Wyoming by Jorge Martinelli on a field trip in 1970 under the auspices of the University of Kansas. The strata was a Lysite member of the Wind River Formation. Martinelli was studying paleontology at the University of Barcelona. Paleontologists Larry D. Martin and
Craig Call Black from the
University of Kansas Natural History Museum named it in his honour. The smaller of the two species, it was similar in size to the living
long-eared owl (Asio otus). Differences in the
trochleas (grooves) of the lower end of the tarsometatarsus set it apart from living owls, namely a groove in the trochlea for digit 2, a deeper posterior groove in a relatively narrow trochlea for digit 3, and an unusually rounded trochlea for digit 4.[2]
In 2016,
Gerald Mayr described E. gulottai from the early Eocene
Nanjemoy Formation in
Virginia.[5] However, in 2022, Mayr, alongside Andrew C. Kitchener, moved 'E.' gulottai to the genus Ypresiglaux as the new combination Y. gulottai.[6]
^Harrison, C. J. O. (1980). "A small owl from the Lower Eocene of Britain". Tertiary Research. 3 (2): 83–87.
ISSN0308-9649.
^Kurochkin, E. N.; Dyke, G. J. (2011). "The first fossil owls (Aves: Strigiformes) from the Paleogene of Asia and a review of the fossil record of Strigiformes". Paleontological Journal. 45 (4): 445–458.
doi:
10.1134/S003103011104006X.