Strigiformes

Oriental bay owl Phodilus badius, photographed by Mark Andrews.

Belongs within: Anomalogonatae.
Contains: Tyto, Striginae.

The Strigiformes contain the owls. Living owls are mostly nocturnal, carnivorous birds with large, forward-facing eyes, soft plumage and hooked beaks (Austin 1961).The stem group of the Strigiformes is represented in the Palaeogene of Europe and North America by the families Protostrigidae and Sophiornithidae; crown-group owls differ from the stem group in the presence of a medial tubercle on the proximal tarsometatarsus, and a particularly slender humerus (Mayr 2005). The Protostrigidae are characterised by a greatly widened median condyle on the tibiotarsus, and had the first and second toes strongly developed (Mayr 2005).

<==Strigiformes [Nocturni, Striges]
    |  i. s.: Ornimegalonyx oteroi WH02
    |         Mascarenotus HSS13
    |           |--M. grucheti HSS13
    |           |--M. murivorus HSS13
    |           `--M. sauzieri HSS13
    |--Protostrigidae M05
    |    |--Protostrix mimica FP64
    |    |--Oligostrix Fischer 1983 M05
    |    |    `--*O. rupelensis Fischer 1983 [=O. rupeliensis] M02
    |    `--Eostrix Harrison 1980 M05
    |         |--*E. minima (Wetmore 1938) [=Protostrix minima] M02
    |         `--E. vincenti Harrison 1980 M02
    |--Sophiornithidae M05
    |    |--Sophiornis Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M05
    |    |    `--*S. quercynus Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
    |    |--Berruornis Mourer-Chauviré 1994 M05
    |    |    `--*B. orbisantiqui Mourer-Chauviré 1994 M02
    |    |--Palaeotyto Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M05
    |    |    `--*P. cadurcensis Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
    |    `--Palaeobyas Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M05
    |         `--*P. cracrafti Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
    `--+--Tytonidae [Tytoninae] M05
       |    |--Tyto MMJ03
       |    |--Basityto Mlíkovský 1998 M02
       |    |    `--*B. rummeli Mlíkovský 1998 M02
       |    |--Necrobyas Milne-Edwards 1892 [incl. Paratyto Brodkorb 1970; Necrobyinae] M02
       |    |    |--*N. harpax Milne-Edwards 1892 [incl. N. rossignoli Milne-Edwards 1892] M02
       |    |    `--N. arvernensis (Milne-Edwards 1863) (see below for synonymy) M02
       |    |--Prosybris Brodkorb 1970 M02
       |    |    |--*P. antiqua (Milne-Edwards 1869) [=Strix antiqua; incl. Necrobyas minimus Mourer-Chauviré 1987] M02
       |    |    `--P. media (Mourer-Chauviré 1987) [=Necrobyas medius] M02
       |    `--Phodilus Geoffroy St.-Hilaire 1830 [=Photodilus (l. c.); Phodilinae, Photodilinae] B94
       |         |--P. badius RN72
       |         |    |--P. b. badius RN72
       |         |    |--P. b. arixuthus RN72
       |         |    |--P. b. assimiles RN72
       |         |    |--P. b. parvus RN72
       |         |    `--P. b. saturatus RN72
       |         `--P. prigoginei DL94
       `--Strigidae [Selenornithinae] M05
            |  i. s.: Sceloglaux albifacies (Gray 1844) W04
            |           |--S. a. albifacies HR96
            |           `--S. a. rufifacies HR96
            |         Rhynoptynx MMJ03
            |         Nesasio solomonensis FP64
            |         Ciccaba S55
            |           |--C. albogularis S55
            |           |--C. huhula S55
            |           |--C. nigrolineata S55
            |           |--C. virgata S55
            |           |    |--C. v. virgata FS55
            |           |    `--C. v. centralis FS55
            |           `--C. woodfordi S55
            |                |--C. w. woodfordi S55
            |                `--C. w. umbrina S55
            |         Scotopelia JT12
            |           |--S. bouvieri JT12
            |           |--S. peli A61
            |           `--S. ussheri JT12
            |         Selenornis Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
            |           `--*S. henrici (Milne-Edwards 1892) [=Otus henrici, Asio henrici] M02
            |         Nocturnavis Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
            |           `--*N. incerta (Milne-Edwards 1892) [=Bubo incertus] M02
            |         Badiostes Ameghino 1894 A94
            |           `--*B. patagonicus Ameghino 1894 A94
            |         Uroglaux dimorpha JT12
            |         Xenoglaux loweryi JT12
            |         Heteroglaux blewitti JT12
            |         Jubula lettii JT12
            |         Gymnoglaux lawrencii JT12
            |--Striginae M02
            `--Palaeoglaux Mourer-Chauviré 1987 [Palaeoglaucinae] M02
                 |--*P. perrierensis Mourer-Chauviré 1987 M02
                 `--P. artophoron Peters 1992 M02

Necrobyas arvernensis (Milne-Edwards 1863) [=Bubo arvernensis, Buteo (l. c.) arvernensis, *Paratyto arvernensis; incl. Necrobyas edwardsi Gaillard 1939] M02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A94] Ameghino, F. 1894. Sur les oiseaux fossiles de Patagonie et la aune mammalogique des couches a Pyrotherium. Boletín del Instituto Geográfico Argentino 15 (11-12): 501-602.

[A61] Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281.

[DL94] Dinesen, L., T. Lehmberg, J. O. Svendsen, L. A. Hansen & J. Fjeldså. 1994. A new genus and species of perdicine bird (Phasianidae, Perdicini) from Tanzania, a relict form with Indo-Malayan affinities. Ibis 136: 2-11.

[FS55] Felten, H., & J. Steinbacher. 1955. Zur Vogelfauna von El Salvador. Senckenbergiana Biologica 36 (1-2): 9-19.

[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.

[HR96] Heather, B. D., & H. A. Robertson. 1996. The Field Guide to the Birds of New Zealand. Viking: Auckland.

[HSS13] Hirschfeld, E., A. Swash & R. Still. 2013. The World's Rarest Birds. Princeton University Press: Princeton (New Jersey).

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444-448.

[M05] Mayr, G. 2005. The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe. Biological Reviews 80: 515-542.

[MMJ03] Mayr, G., A. Manegold & U. S. Johansson. 2003. Monophyletic groups within ‘higher land birds’ – comparison of morphological and molecular data. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 41: 233-248.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds.) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 2. Blandford Press: London.

[S55] Steinbacher, J. 1955. Über die Schwanzmauser der Eulen (Strigidae) und Nachtschwalben (Caprimulgidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 36: 235-240.

[W04] Worthy, T. H. 2004. The Holocene fossil waterfowl fauna of Lake Poukawa, North Island, New Zealand. Tuhinga 15: 77-120.

[WH02] Worthy, T. H., & R. N. Holdaway. 2002. The Lost World of the Moa: Prehistoric life of New Zealand. Indiana University Press: Bloomington (Indiana).