Sophiornithidae
| Sophiornithidae Temporal range: Paleocene-Eocene | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Sophiornis, Strigogyps, Necrobyas | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | ?Strigiformes |
| Family: | Sophiornithidae |
| Genera | |
and see text | |
Sophiornithidae (literally "Wisdom Birds"), was a family of chicken-sized predatory birds that lived from the Paleocene to the Eocene periods of the Cenozoic, and were found primarily in Europe, and are thought to be primitive owls.
The French genera Berruornis (Late Paleocene to Late Eocene/Early Oligocene), as well as Palaeotyto and Palaeobyas from Quercy, are sometimes placed in this family. The latter might instead be barn-owls, while the first might be a very basal owl but not an actual sophiornithid. Strigogyps was placed here for a time, but it has been revised several times since then (Alvarenga & Höfling 2003, Mayr 2005, Peters 2007) and appears to be an ameghinornitid; these were distant relatives of the Seriemas.
References
- Alvarenga, Herculano M. F. & Höfling, Elizabeth (2003): Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes). Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 43(4): 55-91 PDF fulltext
- Mayr, Gerald (2005): "Old World phorusrhacids" (Aves, Phorusrhacidae): a new look at Strigogyps ("Aenigmavis") sapea (Peters 1987). PaleoBios (Berkeley) 25(1): 11-16 HTML abstract
- Peters, Dieter Stefan (1987): Ein "Phorusrhacidae" aus dem Mittel-Eozän von Messel (Aves: Gruiformes: Cariamae). Documents des Laboratoires de Géologie de Lyon 99: 71-87. [Article in German]
- Peters, Dieter Stefan (2007): The fossil family Ameghinornithidae (Mourer-Chauviré 1981): a short synopsis. Journal of Ornithology 148(1): 25-28. doi:10.1007/s10336-006-0095-z