| Cretan owl Temporal range: Pleistocene
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|---|---|
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| Athene cretensis and Candiacervus ropalophorus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Strigidae |
| Genus: | Athene |
| Species: | †A. cretensis
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| Binomial name | |
| †Athene cretensis Weesie, 1982
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The Cretan owl (Athene cretensis) is an extinct species of owl from the Pleistocene of the island of Crete, in the eastern Mediterranean. It was first named by P.D.M. Weesie in a paper in 1982. In life, it would have been at least 60 cm tall, considerably larger than the 22 cm long little owl (Athene noctua) and appears to have been terrestrially adapted, with relatively short wings and long legs (though they were proportionally shorter than those of the burrowing owl). Its primary prey was likely the endemic mouse species Mus minotaurus, as evidenced by the numerous owl pellets containing it recovered from the caves from which the bones of A. cretensis were found.
References
- ^ P.D.M. Weesie A Pleistocene endemic island form within the genus Athene: Athene cretensis n.sp. (Aves, Strigiformes) from Crete Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen B, 85 (3) (1982), pp. 323-336
- ^ M. Pavia, C. Mourer-Chauviré An overview of the Genus Athene in the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean Islands, with the Description of Athene trinacriae n.sp. (Aves: Strigidae) Z. Zhou, F. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Beijing Science Press (2002), pp. 13-27
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