Kauai long-legged owl

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Kauai long-legged owl
Systematics
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Owls (Strigiformes)
Family : Real owls (Strigidae)
Subfamily : Striginae
Genre : Grallistrix
Type : Kauai long-legged owl
Scientific name
Grallistrix auceps
Olson & James , 1991

The Kauai long-legged owl ( Grallistrix auceps ) is an extinct owl belonging to the genus Grallistrix . It was only native to the Hawaiian island of Kaua'i , where it hunted songbirds in the thick forests . For an owl it had exceptionally short wings and long legs, but was roughly the same size as a tawny owl ( Strix aluco ) and was the second largest species of its genus after the Molokai long-legged owl ( G. geleches ). It probably became extinct due to the pigs and Pacific rats ( Rattus exulans ) introduced by the Polynesians .

features

The Kauai long-legged owl was built relatively slim and had long legs and claws and relatively short wings, which probably allowed it to fly between trees. In size it resembled a tawny owl ( Strix aluco ). The skull was relatively narrow for owls.

Way of life and distribution

Forest landscapes, as they still exist on Kaua'i today, were probably the primary habitat of the owl

Diurnal songbirds such as the partial extinct clothes Birds of Kauai Langbeineule probably served as a main food, which is in contrast to the predominantly nocturnal today owls feed on small mammals usually from. Other island-dwelling predators that feed on small forest birds show a similar morphology aimed at catching nimble small birds in flight. The owls of the genus Grallistrix were probably ground breeders, which made them particularly sensitive to nest theft by introduced mammals.

The range of the Kauai long-legged owl was limited according to today's knowledge to Kauai, the most remote island of the Hawaiian archipelago.

Systematics

Although the Kauai long-legged owl resembles the Molokai long-legged owl in body dimensions, the geographical isolation of Kauai makes a closer relationship between the two species unlikely. The distribution area of ​​the smaller Oahu long-legged owl ( G. orion ) also speaks against it.

Evidence and sources

literature

  • Storrs L. Olson , Helen F. James : Descriptions of thirty-two new Species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands. In: Ornithological Monographs 45, June 1991. ISBN 0-935868-54-2 . (Available online as PDF )
  • Harold Douglas Pratt: The Hawaiian honeycreepers: Drepanidinae. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 019854653X
  • Alan C. Ziegler: Hawaiian natural history, ecology, and evolution. University of Hawaii Press, 2002. ISBN 0824821904

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Storrs L. Olson, Helen F. James: Descriptions of thirty-two new species of Birds from the Hawaiian Islands. In: Ornithological Monographs 45, June 1991. ISBN 0-935868-54-2 , pp. 68-74.
  2. ↑ Olson & James 1991, p. 84.
  3. ^ Alan C. Ziegler: Hawaiian natural history, ecology, and evolution. University of Hawaii Press, 2002. ISBN 0824821904 , p. 271.
  4. ↑ Olson & James 1991, p. 72.
  5. ↑ Olson & James, p. 74.