Scops owl
Encyclopedia
Scops owls are Strigidae (typical owl
s) belong to the genus
Otus. Approximately 45 living species
are known, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered every few years or so, especially in Indonesia
. For most of the 20th century, this genus included the American
screech owls which are now again separated in Megascops based on a range of behavior
al, biogeographical, morphological
and DNA sequence
data. It is the largest genus of owls in terms of number of species.
Scops owls in the modern sense are restricted to the Old World
, except for a single North America
n species - the Flammulated Owl
- that is only provisionally placed here and is likely to be moved out of Otus eventually. See below for details.
As usual for owls, female scops owls are usually larger than the males of their species, with owls of both sexes being compact in size and shape. All of the birds in this genus are small and agile. Scops-owls are colored in various brownish hues, sometimes with a lighter underside and/or face, which helps to camouflage
them against the bark of trees. Some are polymorphic
, occurring in a greyish- and a reddish-brown morph.
Scops owls are primarily solitary birds. Most species lay and incubate their eggs in a cavity nest that was originally made by another animal. During the incubation period, the male will feed the female. These birds are monogamous, with biparental care, and only fledge
one young per year. The young of most scops-owls are altricial
to semialtricial.
As opposed to screech owls, scops owls have only a single type of call. This consists of a series of whistles or high-pitched hoots, given with a frequency of 4 calls per second or less, or of a single, drawn-out whistle. Calls differ widely between species in type and pitch, and in the field are often the first indication of these birds' presence, as well as the most reliable means to distinguish between species. Some, like the recently-described Serendib Scops Owl
(Otus thilohoffmanni), were discovered because their vocalizations were unfamiliar to experts in bird-calls.
Due to a nomenclatorial
dispute, the generic name Scops is not used by either the scops or the screech owls (which when only a few species were known were placed together), nor by any other animal. In 1760, Mathurin Jacques Brisson
had established the genus Scopus for the hammerkop
, a peculiar Africa
n bird. Paul Möhring
in 1758 had already used the name Scops for this bird however, and believing this name to be valid Morten Thrane Brünnich
replaced Scopus with it in 1772. The scops- and screech-owls, which were placed in Otus by Thomas Pennant
in 1769 (as he too believed that Moehring's Scops was valid) were moved to Scops by Marie Jules César Savigny
in 1809. Lorenz Oken
in 1817 changed this to Scopus, also under the impression that Scops was the older name for the hammerkop, and valid.
However, the names established by Moehring pre-date the official start date of Linnean nomenclature in zoology as regulated by the ICZN
, which is December 31, 1758 - the last day of the year in which the 10th edition of Linné's
Systema Naturae
was published. Hence, Scopus as established by Brisson is indeed the valid generic name of the hammerkop, and the first valid use of Scops was in 1772 by Brünnich - which according to modern rules of zoological nomenclature was unjustified however, as the name he believed to be reinstating had never been technically valid in the first place.
ary relationships of the scops and screech owls are not entirely clear. What is certain is that they are very closely related; they may be considered sister lineages which fill essentially the same ecological niche
in their allopatric ranges. A screech-owl fossil
from the Late Pliocene of Kansas
- which is almost identical to Eastern
and Western Screech Owl
s - indicate a long-standing presence of these birds in the Americas
, while coeval scops-owl fossils very similar to the Eurasian Scops-owl have been found at S'Onix on the Spanish
island Majorca. The scops and screech owl lineage probably evolved at some time during the Miocene
(like most other genera of typical owls), and the three (see below) modern lineages separated perhaps roughly 5 million years ago. Note that there is no reliable estimate of divergence time, as Otus and Megascops are osteologically very similar, as is to be expected from a group that has apparently conserved its ecomorphology
since before its evolutionary radiation
. As almost all scops and screech owls today, their common ancestor was in all probability already a small owl, with ear tufts and at least the upper tarsus
("leg") feathered.
However that may be, the hypothesis that the group evolved from Old World stock is tentatively supported by cytochrome b
sequence
data.
While late 19th-century ornithologists knew little of the variation of these cryptic birds which often live in far-off places, with every new taxon
being described a few differences between the Old and New World "scops" owls became more and more prominent. Namely, the scops owls give a whistling call or a row of high-pitched hoots with less than four individual hoots per second. This call is given in social interaction or when the owl tries to scare away other animals. The screech owls on the other hand are named for their piercing trills of more than four individual notes per second. They also have a kind of song
, which is a short sequence of varying calls given by the males when they try to attract females to their nests, or between members of a pair. There are a few other differences such as the screech owls almost never being brown below which is common in scops-owls, but the difference in vocalizations is most striking.
By the mid-19th century, it was becoming clear that Otus encompassed more than one genus. First, in 1848, the screech owls were split off as Megascops. The white-faced owls of Africa, with their huge eyes and striking facial coloration, were separated in Ptilopsis in 1851. In 1854, the highly apomorphic White-throated Screech Owl of the Andes
was placed in the monotypic
genus Macabra. Gymnasio was established in the same year for the Puerto Rican Screech Owl
, and the Bare-legged Owl
(or "Cuban Screech Owl") was separated in Gymnoglaux the following year; the latter genus was sometimes merged with Gymnasio by subsequent authors. The Palau Owl
, described only in 1872 and little-known to this day, was eventually separated in Pyrroglaux by Yoshimaro Yamashina
in 1938.
In the early 20th century, the lumping-together
of taxa had come to be preferred. The 3rd edition of the AOU
checklist in 1910 placed the screech owls back in Otus. Although this move was never unequivocally accepted, it was the dominant treatment throughout most of the 20th century. In 1988 it was attempted to resolve this by re-establishing all those genera split some 140 years earlier at subgenus
rank inside Otus. Still, the diversity and distinctness of the group failed to come together in a good evolution
ary and phylogenetic picture, and it was not until the availability of DNA sequence
data that this could be resolved. In 1999, a preliminary study of mtDNA cytochrome b
across a wide range of owls found that even the treatment as subgenera was probably unsustainable and suggested that most of the genera proposed around 1850 should be accepted. Though there was some debate about the reliability of these findings at first, they have been confirmed by subsequent studies. In 2003, the AOU formally re-accepted the genus Megascops again.
The Flammulated Owl
has been found to be marginally closer to the screech owls than to the scops owls, but by no means robustly or reliably so. If the scops and screech owl clade
indeed originated in the Old World, the Flammulated Owl's ancestors either colonized the Americas independently from but at about the same time and from much the same stock as the screech owls', or they diverged immediately after the latter had settled in the New World. In any case, "Otus" flammeolus might warrant separation in its own monotypic
genus as this would best agree with the available data. It is retained in Otus simply because it does not have the "song" or rapid trill of Megascops - which as seen above are highly informative as regards these owls' phylogeny.
An apparent Otus owl was heard calling at about 1,000 meters ASL
south of the summit of Camiguin
in the Philippines
on May 14, 1994. No scops owls had previously known from this island, and given that new species of Otus are occasionally discovered, it may have been an undescribed taxon
.
record of scops owls gives an incomplete picture of their evolution at present. While older sources cite many species of supposed extinct Otus (or "Scops"), these are now placed in entirely different genera:
Owl
Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s) belong to the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Otus. Approximately 45 living species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
are known, but new ones are frequently recognized and unknown ones are still being discovered every few years or so, especially in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
. For most of the 20th century, this genus included the American
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
screech owls which are now again separated in Megascops based on a range of behavior
Behavior
Behavior or behaviour refers to the actions and mannerisms made by organisms, systems, or artificial entities in conjunction with its environment, which includes the other systems or organisms around as well as the physical environment...
al, biogeographical, morphological
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
and DNA sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data. It is the largest genus of owls in terms of number of species.
Scops owls in the modern sense are restricted to the Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
, except for a single North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n species - the Flammulated Owl
Flammulated Owl
The Flammulated Owl is a small, nocturnal owl approximately 15 cm long with a 36 cm wingspan. Males and females can be distinguished by their weight. Females are larger, ranging from 62-65 grams and males are smaller ranging from 50-52 grams. The owl gets the name flammulated from the flame...
- that is only provisionally placed here and is likely to be moved out of Otus eventually. See below for details.
As usual for owls, female scops owls are usually larger than the males of their species, with owls of both sexes being compact in size and shape. All of the birds in this genus are small and agile. Scops-owls are colored in various brownish hues, sometimes with a lighter underside and/or face, which helps to camouflage
Crypsis
In ecology, crypsis is the ability of an organism to avoid observation or detection by other organisms. It may be either a predation strategy or an antipredator adaptation, and methods include camouflage, nocturnality, subterranean lifestyle, transparency, and mimicry...
them against the bark of trees. Some are polymorphic
Polymorphism (biology)
Polymorphism in biology occurs when two or more clearly different phenotypes exist in the same population of a species — in other words, the occurrence of more than one form or morph...
, occurring in a greyish- and a reddish-brown morph.
Ecology and behaviour
Scops owls hunt from perches in semi-open landscapes. They prefer areas which contain old trees with hollows; these are home to their prey which includes insects, reptiles, small mammals such as bats and mice and other small birds. The owls will also eat earthworms, amphibians and aquatic invertebrates. Scops owls have a good sense of hearing which helps them locate their prey in any habitat. They also possess well-developed raptorial claws and a curved bill, both of which are used for tearing their prey into pieces small enough to swallow easily.Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...
one young per year. The young of most scops-owls are altricial
Altricial
Altricial, meaning "requiring nourishment", refers to a pattern of growth and development in organisms which are incapable of moving around on their own soon after hatching or being born...
to semialtricial.
As opposed to screech owls, scops owls have only a single type of call. This consists of a series of whistles or high-pitched hoots, given with a frequency of 4 calls per second or less, or of a single, drawn-out whistle. Calls differ widely between species in type and pitch, and in the field are often the first indication of these birds' presence, as well as the most reliable means to distinguish between species. Some, like the recently-described Serendib Scops Owl
Serendib Scops Owl
The Serendib Scops Owl is the most recently discovered bird of Sri Lanka. It was originally located by its unfamiliar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest by prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist Deepal Warakagoda. Six years later, it was finally seen by him on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and...
(Otus thilohoffmanni), were discovered because their vocalizations were unfamiliar to experts in bird-calls.
Taxonomy and systematics
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
dispute, the generic name Scops is not used by either the scops or the screech owls (which when only a few species were known were placed together), nor by any other animal. In 1760, Mathurin Jacques Brisson
Mathurin Jacques Brisson
Mathurin Jacques Brisson was a French zoologist and natural philosopher.Brisson was born at Fontenay-le-Comte. The earlier part of his life was spent in the pursuit of natural history, his published works in this department including Le Règne animal and Ornithologie...
had established the genus Scopus for the hammerkop
Hammerkop
The Hamerkop , also known as Hammerkop,Hammerkopf, Hammerhead, Hammerhead Stork, Umbrette, Umber Bird, Tufted Umber, or Anvilhead, is a medium-sized wading bird...
, a peculiar Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
n bird. Paul Möhring
Paul Möhring
Paul Heinrich Gerhard Möhring , aka Paul Mohr, was a German physician, botanist and zoologist.Möhring was physician to the Prince of Anhalt. In 1752 he published Avium Genera, an early attempt to classify bird species, which divided birds into four classes and shows the beginnings of the modern...
in 1758 had already used the name Scops for this bird however, and believing this name to be valid Morten Thrane Brünnich
Morten Thrane Brünnich
thumb|180px|Morten Thrane Brünnich, painting by [[Jens Juel |Jens Juel]], 1799Morten Thrane Brünnich was a Danish zoologist and mineralogist....
replaced Scopus with it in 1772. The scops- and screech-owls, which were placed in Otus by Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant
Thomas Pennant was a Welsh naturalist and antiquary.The Pennants were a Welsh gentry family from the parish of Whitford, Flintshire, who had built up a modest estate at Bychton by the seventeenth century...
in 1769 (as he too believed that Moehring's Scops was valid) were moved to Scops by Marie Jules César Savigny
Marie Jules César Savigny
Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny was a French zoologist.Savigny was born at Provins. In 1798 he travelled to Egypt with the Emperor Napoleon as part of the French scientific expedition to that country, and contributed to the publication of the findings of the expedition in 1809...
in 1809. Lorenz Oken
Lorenz Oken
Lorenz Oken was a German naturalist.Oken was born Lorenz Okenfuss in Bohlsbach in Baden and studied natural history and medicine at the universities of Freiburg and Würzburg. He went on to the University of Göttingen, where he became a Privatdozent , and shortened his name to Oken...
in 1817 changed this to Scopus, also under the impression that Scops was the older name for the hammerkop, and valid.
However, the names established by Moehring pre-date the official start date of Linnean nomenclature in zoology as regulated by the ICZN
International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature is a widely accepted convention in zoology that rules the formal scientific naming of organisms treated as animals...
, which is December 31, 1758 - the last day of the year in which the 10th edition of Linné's
Carolus Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...
Systema Naturae
Systema Naturae
The book was one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carolus Linnaeus. The first edition was published in 1735...
was published. Hence, Scopus as established by Brisson is indeed the valid generic name of the hammerkop, and the first valid use of Scops was in 1772 by Brünnich - which according to modern rules of zoological nomenclature was unjustified however, as the name he believed to be reinstating had never been technically valid in the first place.
Evolution
The evolutionEvolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary relationships of the scops and screech owls are not entirely clear. What is certain is that they are very closely related; they may be considered sister lineages which fill essentially the same ecological niche
Ecological niche
In ecology, a niche is a term describing the relational position of a species or population in its ecosystem to each other; e.g. a dolphin could potentially be in another ecological niche from one that travels in a different pod if the members of these pods utilize significantly different food...
in their allopatric ranges. A screech-owl fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
from the Late Pliocene of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
- which is almost identical to Eastern
Eastern Screech Owl
The Eastern Screech Owl or Eastern Screech-Owl is a small owl that is relatively common in Eastern North America, from Mexico to Canada.-Description:...
and Western Screech Owl
Western Screech Owl
The Western Screech Owl is a small owl native to North and Central America, closely related to the European Scops owl and the North American Eastern Screech Owl. The scientific name commemorates the American naturalist Robert Kennicott.-Description:Length averages , wingspan and weight . Weight...
s - indicate a long-standing presence of these birds in the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
, while coeval scops-owl fossils very similar to the Eurasian Scops-owl have been found at S'Onix on the Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
island Majorca. The scops and screech owl lineage probably evolved at some time during the Miocene
Miocene
The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
(like most other genera of typical owls), and the three (see below) modern lineages separated perhaps roughly 5 million years ago. Note that there is no reliable estimate of divergence time, as Otus and Megascops are osteologically very similar, as is to be expected from a group that has apparently conserved its ecomorphology
Ecomorphology
Ecomorphology or Ecological Morphology is studying relationships between morphological and ecological variation. There is modern emphasis on linking the two aspects of variation by measuring the performance of traits associated behaviors, and fitness outcomes of the relationships...
since before its evolutionary radiation
Evolutionary radiation
An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity or morphological disparity, due to adaptive change or the opening of ecospace. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid or gradual; where they are rapid, and driven by a single lineage's adaptation to their environment,...
. As almost all scops and screech owls today, their common ancestor was in all probability already a small owl, with ear tufts and at least the upper tarsus
Tarsus (skeleton)
In tetrapods, the tarsus is a cluster of articulating bones in each foot situated between the lower end of tibia and fibula of the lower leg and the metatarsus. In the foot the tarsus articulates with the bones of the metatarsus, which in turn articulate with the bones of the individual toes...
("leg") feathered.
However that may be, the hypothesis that the group evolved from Old World stock is tentatively supported by cytochrome b
Cytochrome b
Cytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics and phylogenetics.- Function :...
sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data.
The splitting of Otus sensu lato
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
being described a few differences between the Old and New World "scops" owls became more and more prominent. Namely, the scops owls give a whistling call or a row of high-pitched hoots with less than four individual hoots per second. This call is given in social interaction or when the owl tries to scare away other animals. The screech owls on the other hand are named for their piercing trills of more than four individual notes per second. They also have a kind of song
Bird song
Bird vocalization includes both bird calls and bird songs. In non-technical use, bird songs are the bird sounds that are melodious to the human ear. In ornithology and birding, songs are distinguished by function from calls.-Definition:The distinction between songs and calls is based upon...
, which is a short sequence of varying calls given by the males when they try to attract females to their nests, or between members of a pair. There are a few other differences such as the screech owls almost never being brown below which is common in scops-owls, but the difference in vocalizations is most striking.
By the mid-19th century, it was becoming clear that Otus encompassed more than one genus. First, in 1848, the screech owls were split off as Megascops. The white-faced owls of Africa, with their huge eyes and striking facial coloration, were separated in Ptilopsis in 1851. In 1854, the highly apomorphic White-throated Screech Owl of the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
was placed in the monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus Macabra. Gymnasio was established in the same year for the Puerto Rican Screech Owl
Puerto Rican Screech Owl
The Puerto Rican Screech Owl or Múcaro is a nocturnal endemic owl of the archipelago of Puerto Rico belonging to the Megascops genus of the Strigidae family. The subspecies, M. n . newtoni, which was endemic to the Virgin Islands, was locally referred to as the Cuckoo Bird.-Taxonomy:The nominate...
, and the Bare-legged Owl
Bare-legged Owl
The Bare-legged Owl or Cuban Screech Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family that is endemic to Cuba. It belongs to the monotypic genus Gymnoglaux....
(or "Cuban Screech Owl") was separated in Gymnoglaux the following year; the latter genus was sometimes merged with Gymnasio by subsequent authors. The Palau Owl
Palau Owl
The Palau Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family. Formerly united with the scops owls in Otus, it is now placed in its own genus Pyrroglaux.It is endemic to Palau.-References:...
, described only in 1872 and little-known to this day, was eventually separated in Pyrroglaux by Yoshimaro Yamashina
Yoshimaro Yamashina
Marquis was a Japanese ornithologist. He was the founder of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology.-Biography:Yamashina was born in Kōjimachi, Tokyo, the second son of Prince Kikumaro Yamashina. He developed a love of birds at an early age, which were found in abundance on the vast Yamashina...
in 1938.
In the early 20th century, the lumping-together
Lumpers and splitters
Lumping and splitting refers to a well-known problem in any discipline which has to place individual examples into rigorously defined categories. The lumper/splitter problem occurs when there is the need to create classifications and assign examples to them, for example schools of literature,...
of taxa had come to be preferred. The 3rd edition of the AOU
American Ornithologists' Union
The American Ornithologists' Union is an ornithological organization in the USA. Unlike the National Audubon Society, its members are primarily professional ornithologists rather than amateur birders...
checklist in 1910 placed the screech owls back in Otus. Although this move was never unequivocally accepted, it was the dominant treatment throughout most of the 20th century. In 1988 it was attempted to resolve this by re-establishing all those genera split some 140 years earlier at subgenus
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...
rank inside Otus. Still, the diversity and distinctness of the group failed to come together in a good evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
ary and phylogenetic picture, and it was not until the availability of DNA sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data that this could be resolved. In 1999, a preliminary study of mtDNA cytochrome b
Cytochrome b
Cytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics and phylogenetics.- Function :...
across a wide range of owls found that even the treatment as subgenera was probably unsustainable and suggested that most of the genera proposed around 1850 should be accepted. Though there was some debate about the reliability of these findings at first, they have been confirmed by subsequent studies. In 2003, the AOU formally re-accepted the genus Megascops again.
The Flammulated Owl
Flammulated Owl
The Flammulated Owl is a small, nocturnal owl approximately 15 cm long with a 36 cm wingspan. Males and females can be distinguished by their weight. Females are larger, ranging from 62-65 grams and males are smaller ranging from 50-52 grams. The owl gets the name flammulated from the flame...
has been found to be marginally closer to the screech owls than to the scops owls, but by no means robustly or reliably so. If the scops and screech owl clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
indeed originated in the Old World, the Flammulated Owl's ancestors either colonized the Americas independently from but at about the same time and from much the same stock as the screech owls', or they diverged immediately after the latter had settled in the New World. In any case, "Otus" flammeolus might warrant separation in its own monotypic
Monotypic
In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...
genus as this would best agree with the available data. It is retained in Otus simply because it does not have the "song" or rapid trill of Megascops - which as seen above are highly informative as regards these owls' phylogeny.
Species
- White-fronted Scops Owl, Otus sagittatus
- Andaman Scops OwlAndaman Scops Owlustification This species is listed as Near Threatened because it has a moderately small range, within which habitat is declining in quality and extent...
, Otus balli - Reddish Scops OwlReddish Scops OwlThe Reddish Scops Owl is an owl found in southeast Asia.-References:*...
, Otus rufescens- Sulu Reddish Scops Owl, Otus rufescens burbidgei - doubtfully distinct, extinct (mid-20th century)
- Sandy Scops Owl, Otus icterorhynchus
- Sokoke Scops OwlSokoke Scops OwlThe Sokoke Scops Owl, Otus ireneae, is an owl found in Kenya and Tanzania. The greatest population of this species of owl is in the Cynometra-Manilkara forest, which is less than one-third of the Sokoke forest. It is also found in the Afzelia-Cynometra forest.The Sokoke Scops Owl can grow up to ,...
, Otus ireneae - Flores Scops OwlFlores Scops OwlThe Flores Scops-owl is an owl endemic to the island of Flores, Indonesia. It is threatened by habitat loss.-References:**http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Otus&species=alfredi...
, Otus alfredi - Mountain Scops OwlMountain Scops OwlThe Mountain Scops Owl is sometimes referred to as the spotted scops owl. It is locally common in its main habitat which covers some parts of Asia, mostly Bhutan and Taiwan. It has a short high-pitched call similar to the sound a radar...
, Otus spilocephalus - Rajah Scops OwlRajah Scops OwlThe Rajah Scops Owl is common through most of its Indonesian habitat. There are two subspecies.-References:**http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Otus&species=brookii...
, Otus brookii - Javan Scops OwlJavan Scops OwlThe Javan Scops Owl is a rare owl native to Indonesia. There are no sub-species.-References:* * http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Otus&species=angelinae...
, Otus angelinae - Mentawai Scops OwlMentawai Scops OwlThe Mentawai Scops Owl is endemic to larger islands of Mentawai, off west Sumatra, Indonesia.-References:**http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Otus&species=mentawi...
, Otus mentawi - Collared Scops OwlCollared Scops OwlThe Collared Scops Owl is an owl which is a resident breeder in south Asia from northern Pakistan, northern India and the Himalayas east to south China. It is partially migratory, with some birds wintering in India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia...
, Otus lettia - Indian Scops OwlIndian Scops OwlThe Indian Scops Owl is a resident species of owl found in south Asia from eastern Arabia through India, except the far north, and Sri Lanka east to Indonesia. This species formerly included what has been split out as the Collared Scops Owl...
, Otus bakkamoena - Sunda Scops Owl, Otus lempiji
- Japanese Scops OwlJapanese Scops OwlThe Japanese Scops Owl, Otus semitorques, is an owl which is a resident breeder in Japan.This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae.It is very similar to the slightly...
, Otus semitorques - Wallace's Scops OwlWallace's Scops OwlThe Wallace's Scops Owl lives on a few remote islands. It is not rare in most of its habitat and has no sub-species. It is also known as the lesser sunda scops owl....
, Otus silvicola - Palawan Scops Owl, Otus fuliginosus
- Philippine Scops OwlPhilippine Scops OwlThe Philippine Scops Owl is a common owl, endemic to the Philippines, belonging to the family of the typical owls Strigidae. It is one of the sixteen owl species in the Philippines....
, Otus megalotis - Mindanao Scops Owl, Otus mirus
- Luzon Scops Owl, Otus longicornis
- Mindoro Scops Owl, Otus mindorensis
- Pallid Scops Owl, Otus brucei
- African Scops OwlAfrican Scops OwlThe African Scops Owl is a small owl endemic to sub-Saharan Africa.-Identification:The African Scops Owl has a distinctive "prrrp" call which occurs around every 5 seconds:-External links:...
, Otus senegalensis - Eurasian Scops Owl, Otus scops
- Oriental Scops OwlOriental Scops OwlThe Oriental Scops Owl Otus sunia is a species of Scops owl found in South Asia. They are found in dry deciduous forests. They are usually detected by their distinctive call. There have been 2 records of Oriental Scops Owl in Alaska....
, Otus sunia - Moluccan Scops OwlMoluccan Scops OwlThe Moluccan Scops Owl is an owl found in Asia.-References:**...
, Otus magicus - Mantanani Scops OwlMantanani Scops OwlThe Sula Scops Owl , is a small owl in the scops-owl genus Otus found on the Sula Islands. Taxonomically, some groups consider it to be a distinct species , others a subspecies of the Sulawesi Scops Owl, and yet others a subspecies of the Moluccan Scops Owl.-References:*Clements, J. F., T. S....
, Otus mantananensis - Ryūkyū Scops Owl, Otus elegans
- Sulawesi Scops OwlSulawesi Scops OwlThe Sulawesi Scops Owl is an owl found in southeast Asia.-References:*...
, Otus manadensis- Sula Scops Owl, Otus manadensis sulaensis
- Siau Scops OwlSiau Scops OwlThe Siau Scops Owl, Otus manadensis siaoensis is a critically endangered owl and may be extinct. They live on Siau Island, north of Sulawesi, Indonesia and are forest dwellers. The species is only known from a single holotype from 1866 although there have been some local reports in recent years...
, Otus manadensis siaoensis
- Sangihe Scops OwlSangihe Scops OwlThe Sangihe Scops Owl is an owl endemic to the island of Sangihe.-References:**...
, Otus collari - Biak Scops OwlBiak Scops OwlThe Biak Scops Owl is an owl endemic to the twin islands of Biak-Supiori in Geelvink Bay, Papua , Indonesia. It is classified as Endangered due to its very small range and destruction of its habitat.-References:**...
, Otus beccarii - Seychelles Scops OwlSeychelles Scops OwlThe Seychelles Scops Owl , also known as Bare-legged Scops Owl or Syer is a rare scops owl species, which only occurs in the Morne Seychellois National Park on the Seychelles island of Mahé.-Description:...
, Otus insularis - Simeulue Scops OwlSimeulue Scops OwlThe Simeulue Scops Owl is an owl endemic to the island of Simeulue, Indonesia.-References:**...
, Otus umbra - Enggano Scops OwlEnggano Scops OwlThe Enggano Scops Owl is an owl endemic to Enggano Island, Indonesia.-References:**...
, Otus enganensis - Nicobar Scops OwlNicobar Scops OwlThe Nicobar Scops Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family.It is endemic to India.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It has an uncertain status but is thought to be rare or endangered. It was originally discovered by Pamela C. Rasmussen in 1998.-Source:*...
, Otus alius - Pemba Scops OwlPemba Scops OwlThe Pemba Scops-owl, Petit-duc De Pemba, or Autillo De Pemba is a species of owl in the Strigidae family.It is endemic to Tanzania....
, Otus pembaensis - Comoro Scops OwlComoro Scops OwlThe Comoro Scops Owl, Otus pauliani, is an owl endemic to the Comoro Islands.This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae....
, Otus pauliani - Anjouan Scops OwlAnjouan Scops OwlThe Anjouan Scops Owl, Otus capnodes, is an owl endemic to the Comoro Islands.This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae....
, Otus capnodes - Moheli Scops OwlMoheli Scops OwlThe Moheli Scops Owl, Otus moheliensis, is an owl endemic to the Comoro Islands.This species is a part of the larger grouping of owls known as typical owls, Strigidae, which contains most species of owl. The other grouping is the barn owls, Tytonidae....
, Otus moheliensis - Rainforest Scops Owl, Otus rutilus
- Mayotte Scops Owl, Otus mayottensis – formerly included in O. rutilus
- Torotoroka Scops Owl, Otus madagascariensis – formerly included in O. rutilus
- Serendib Scops OwlSerendib Scops OwlThe Serendib Scops Owl is the most recently discovered bird of Sri Lanka. It was originally located by its unfamiliar poo-ooo call in the Kitulgala rainforest by prominent Sri Lankan ornithologist Deepal Warakagoda. Six years later, it was finally seen by him on 23 January 2001 in Sinharaja, and...
, Otus thilohoffmanni - São Tomé Scops Owl, Otus hartlaubi
- Flammulated OwlFlammulated OwlThe Flammulated Owl is a small, nocturnal owl approximately 15 cm long with a 36 cm wingspan. Males and females can be distinguished by their weight. Females are larger, ranging from 62-65 grams and males are smaller ranging from 50-52 grams. The owl gets the name flammulated from the flame...
, Otus flammeolus – provisionally placed here
An apparent Otus owl was heard calling at about 1,000 meters ASL
Above mean sea level
The term above mean sea level refers to the elevation or altitude of any object, relative to the average sea level datum. AMSL is used extensively in radio by engineers to determine the coverage area a station will be able to reach...
south of the summit of Camiguin
Camiguin
Camiguin is an island province of the Philippines located in the Bohol Sea, about off the northern coast of Misamis Oriental in Mindanao. It is the second-smallest province both in population and land area after Batanes...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
on May 14, 1994. No scops owls had previously known from this island, and given that new species of Otus are occasionally discovered, it may have been an undescribed taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
.
Formerly placed here
As noted above, the fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
record of scops owls gives an incomplete picture of their evolution at present. While older sources cite many species of supposed extinct Otus (or "Scops"), these are now placed in entirely different genera:
- "Otus" henrici was a barn owlBarn OwlThe Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical...
of the genus Selenornis - "Otus" providentiae was a burrowing owlBurrowing OwlThe Burrowing Owl is a tiny but long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing Owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other open dry area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those excavated...
, probably a paleosubspecies - "Otus" wintershofensis may be close to extant genus NinoxNinoxNinox is a genus of owls comprising about 20 species found in Asia and Australasia. Many species are known as hawk owls or boobooks...
and some material assigned to it belongs into Intutula - "Scops" commersoni is a junior synonym of the recently-extinct Mauritius OwlMauritius OwlThe extinct Mauritius Owl , also called Commerson's, Sauzier's or Newton's Owl, was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius...
, referring to pictures and descriptions which mention ear tufts; the subfossilSubfossilSubfossil refers to remains whose fossilization process is not complete, either for lack of time or because the conditions in which they were buried were not optimal for fossilization....
material of this species had been erroneously assigned to tuftless owls