Tyto gigantea is an extinct barn owl from what is now Gargano, Italy, dating back to the late Miocene. From its remains, T. gigantea is suggested to have been as large as or larger than the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo).
| Tyto gigantea Temporal range: Late Miocene
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| Tyto gigantea | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Tytonidae |
| Genus: | Tyto |
| Species: | †T. gigantea
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| Binomial name | |
| †Tyto gigantea Ballmann, 1973
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This species seems to have lived at the same time as the closely related owl, Tyto robusta.[1] That would represent a single lineage of owls adapting to the largest size of their prey on the island, such as the great erinaceomorph of Gargano, Deinogalerix, and rodents.[2]
References
edit- ^ Pavia M. (2011). "Fossil birds from the Neogene of the Gargano (Apulia, SE Italy)". pp. 78–80. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
- ^ Mlíkovský, J. (1998). A new barn owl (Aves: Strigidae) from the early Miocene of Germany, with comments on the fossil history of the Tytoninae. Journal für Ornithologie, 139(3), 247-261.
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