An Overview of the Genus Athene in the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean Islands, with the description of Athene trinacriae n. sp. (Aves: Strigidae)

摘要

The Little Owls of the genus Athene are small strigiform birds commonly present in Mediterranean islands during the Pleistocene and Holocene with four species: Athene angelis from the Middle and Late Pleistocene of Corsica, Athene cretensis from the Late Pleistocene of Crete and Armathia, Athene trinacriae n. sp. from the Middle Pleistocene of Sicily, and Athene noctua from the Pleistocene of the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, Cyprus, Karpathos, and from the Late Pleistocene of Sicily. This work takes into account the distribution of the genus Athene in the Mediterranean islands and tries to explain the relationships between the endemic mammal faunas of the islands and the presence of endemic Athene species. In addition, the resent distribution of Athene noctua on Mediterranean islands, probably due to recent colonization, is discussed. An extinct species, Athene trinacriae n. sp., is described within the fossil assemblage of some Middle Pleistocene localities of Sicily. The species is similar in size to the extant A. noctua, but differs from it by its longer legs and some morphological characteristics, probably as a result of a mainly terrestrial life style. Athene trinacriae n. sp. is smaller than A. angelis, from the Pleistocene of Corsica, and has longer and thinner tibiotarsus and tarsometatarsus; it also differs by it smaller size and by its relatively longer legs from the endemic form of the Pleistocene of Crete and Armatia, Athene cretensis.