Yarquen is an extinct genus of which lived in what is now Argentina in the middle Miocene. It contains a single species, Yarquen dolgopolae. It is the oldest owl to have been formally described from South America.
Discovery and naming
The known remains of
Yarquen were discovered in the Collón Curá Formation of Río Negro Province, Argentina. The holotype,
MLP 92-V-10-86, includes
phalanges and the distal end of the right
humerus.
The generic name is derived from the Araucanian word for 'owl', which is masculine in gender. The specific name honors Mathilde Dolgopol de Sáez, the first female paleontologist from Argentina.
Description
Yarquen was a large owl, its humerus being comparable in size to that of the extant
short-eared owl, which it thought to be about the size of. The
ungual phalanx of digit 1 has lateral grooves on both sides and is strongly curved. Like other
strigid owls, it was presumably a
Nocturnality or crepuscular predator.
