The Rote boobook (Ninox rotiensis) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to Rote Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.

Rote boobook
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Strigidae
Genus: Ninox
Species:
N. rotiensis
Binomial name
Ninox rotiensis
Johnstone & Darnell, JC, 1997

It was first described in 1997 by Australian biologists Ronald Johnstone and J.C. Darnell from a female collected in a mist net in 1990.[2] It is smaller than the Australian boobook, with heavily barred primaries, rump and tail.[3] Locally common, it is known as Tuterui and Kokorok in Landu and Oelaba localities respectively on the island.[4] Genetic and call analysis show it to be markedly divergent from the Australian populations of the Australian boobook, leading Gwee and colleagues to suggest it be reclassified as a separate species,[5] which duly happened in 2019.

References edit

  1. ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  2. ^ Johnstone, R. E.; Darnell, J. C. (1997). "Description of a new subspecies of boobook owl Ninox novaeseelandiae (Gmelin) from Roti Island, Indonesia" (PDF). Western Australian Naturalist. 21: 161–74.
  3. ^ König, Claus; Weick, Friedhelm; Becking, Jan-Hendrik (2009). Owls of the World. Helm Identification Guides. A&C Black. pp. 457–59. ISBN 978-1-4081-0884-0.
  4. ^ Verbelen, Phillippe (2010). "Asian enigma. First field observations of Ninox (novaeseelandiae) rotiensis on Roti island, Lesser Sundas, Indonesia". BirdingASIA. 13: 85–89.
  5. ^ Gwee, Chyi Yin; Christidis, Leslie; Eaton, James A.; Norman, Janette A.; Trainor, Colin R.; Verbelen, Phillippe; Rheindt, Frank E. (2017). "Bioacoustic and multi-locus DNA data of Ninox owls support high incidence of extinction and recolonisation on small, low-lying islands across Wallacea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 109: 246–58. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.024. PMID 28017857.