Nyctimene (mythology)

Nyctimene is a character in Ovid's Metamorphoses. The daughter of Epopeus, a king of Lesbos, she had sexual intercourse with her father and was transformed by Minerva into an owl. In Metamorphoses, Cornix complains that her place as Minerva's sacred bird is being usurped by Nyctimene, who is so ashamed of herself that she will not be seen by daylight.

Her name has been given to a genus of bats and an asteroid.

See also