Sophiornithidae

Taxobox
name = Sophiornithidae
fossil_range = Paleocene-Eocene
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = ?Strigiformes
familia = Sophiornithidae
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision =
*"Sophiornis"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 probably related to cranes.

References

* (2003): "Systematic revision of the Phorusrhacidae (Aves: Ralliformes)". "Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia" 43(4): 55-91 [http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_pdf&pid=S0031-10492003000400001&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en PDF fulltext]
* (2005): "Old World phorusrhacids" (Aves, Phorusrhacidae): a new look at "Strigogyps" ("Aenigmavis") "sapea" (Peters 1987). "PaleoBios (Berkeley)" 25(1): 11-16 [http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/science/paleobios/abstracts_21to25.php HTML abstract]
* (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]
* (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 [http://www.springerlink.com/content/g02p27126403245r/fulltext.pdf PDF fulltext]