Lombok scops owl
| Lombok scops owl | ||||||||||
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Otus jolandae in northern Lombok |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Otus jolandae | ||||||||||
| Sangster et al., 2013 |
The Lombok Zwergohreule ( Otus jolandae ) is an owl art from the genus of scops owl ( Otus ). The approximately 23 cm tall birds have a gray-brown coat, a white-gray piebald belly and the feather ears typical of the scops owls . The Lombok scops owl is endemic to the Indonesian Lombok and inhabits forests and parklands of all altitudes. Like other species in its genus, it probably feeds primarily on insects. Nothing is known about their breeding biology.
The Lombok scops owl belongs to a group of outwardly very similar owls that inhabit large parts of the Moluccas . Until its first description in 2013, its population was added to the Moluccan scops owl ( Otus magicus ), which is likely its closest relative. It is unclear how much the population of the species is affected by deforestation on Lombok.
features
Build and color
The Lombok scops owl grows to about 23 cm long from head to tail. There is no known sexual dimorphism in terms of size or color. The wings of the species are 148–157 mm long, their tail reaches a length of 73 to 75 mm. Their beak is 20–23 mm long from the forehead to the tip.
The basic color of the plumage of the Lombok scops owl tends to be a dirty gray-brown. Its back is less speckled than that of the southwestern Moluccan scops owls ( Otus magicus albiventris ). The chin and throat feathers of the species are banded white and gray-brown. The face veil of the birds is dirty gray-brown and is framed by an openwork wreath of white and dark brown feathers. The ear-covers of the species are whitish, the feather ears are dark gray-brown. The chest and belly are covered with white feathers, the dark shaft of which gives a dirty, piebald appearance. The coat and back down to the upper tail-ceiling are reddish brown, but become lighter towards the bottom. The tail feathers are irregularly banded in various shades of brown. The wings of the hand are rather light colored on the outer flag and dark brown on the inner flag. Arm wings and umbrella feathers are dark brown and irregularly banded and speckled with other shades of brown. Cinnamon and gray-brown mix on the wing covers . The legs of the Lombok scops owl are feathered down to the toes. They are sandy brown on the top, and whitish towards the base. The iris of the animals is yellow, the toes are yellowish.
Vocalizations
The call of the Lombok scops owl consists of a single whistle without overtones, which can be transcribed with pok or poook , for example . It is deeper than that of the Sangi owl ( Otus collaris ) and the Moluccan scops owl, but its frequency is higher than that of the Singapore scops owl ( Otus cnephaeus ) and the Sunda scops owl ( Otus lempiji ) and is clear at around 0.3 s shorter than that of the red owl ( Otus rufescens ).
distribution
The Lombok scops owl is, like many other bird species in Indonesia, endemic to an island . However, it is the only species of bird that can only be found on Lombok. Their area of distribution on Lombok has so far been little explored. Well-known occurrences exist in the mountainous north of the island in Gunung Rinjani National Park and its vicinity. It is unclear whether the species also occurs in the southern lowlands. George Sangster and colleagues suspect that the species occurs throughout forested Lombok. It is uncertain whether and which Otus species occur in the adjacent western Sumbawa , neither Otus jolandae nor Otus magicus alviventris have been seen there so far.
habitat
The Lombok scops owl occurs in closed and disturbed primary forest, but also in secondary forest and small groups of trees within more open landscapes. The species moves between 7 and 20 m high in the branches and can be found in locations 25 to 1350 m above sea level.
Way of life
No data are available on the way of life of the species, in particular on breeding biology and nutrition. Due to its size, the Lombok scops owl, like other scops owls, is likely to feed primarily on insects and other invertebrates, such as the Moluccan scops owl. The activity of the species begins at dusk between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. and extends well into the night.
Systematics and taxonomy
The otus owls of the Moluccas were traditionally grouped together as the Moluccan scops owl ( Otus magicus ). Outwardly they are very similar and are predominantly parapatric , that is, their species areas are only separated from one another by narrow waterways. In recent times, many earlier subspecies and variations of the region have been separated from a species complex due to clear differences in morphology, coloration or vocalizations. Ornithologists therefore often speak of “Swiss cheese lumps” when looking at the remaining large species, which are often heavily fragmented. Even the Moluccan owl now only covers a thinned out but very extensive area from Sumbawa in the west to Halmahera in the north and Tanahbesar in the east. The Lombok scops owl was originally considered part of the subspecies Otus magicus albiventris and was only treated as a separate form in the early 21st century. The main reason for this in 2003 was the observation by ornithologists active on Lombok that the calls of the owls there differed significantly from those of others from the Otus magicus complex. The Lombok owls showed no reaction to external calls from tape, but responded to their own recorded vocalizations.
After morphometric and acoustic cluster analyzes , George Sangster and colleagues put the scops owl form Lombok in a species of their own. The specific epithet jolandae honors Sangster's wife Jolanda Luksenburg , who is an ornithologist who deals with the bird fauna of the Moluccas and has contributed to the research of the species. According to Sangster and his co-authors, Otus jolandae is most closely related to the subspecies Otus magicus albiventris of the Moluccan scops owl. Lombok is biogeographically between Bali to the west and Sumbawa and Flores to the east, and shares many species with either its eastern or western neighbors. In the Pleistocene it was one of the few Moluccas that was not connected to its current neighboring islands. The history of distribution and development of Otus jolandae is therefore difficult to reconstruct.
status
No figures are available on the population of the Lombok scops owl. The species is considered common in its habitat and does not seem to be dependent on primary forest. Their occurrence in Mount Rinjani National Park is considered a conservation factor. It is unclear how the deforestation of the lowlands on Lombok has affected the occurrence of the species and whether it is also found in other parts of the island with extensive forest areas.
swell
literature
- Frank E. Rheindt , Robert O. Hutchinson: A Photoshot Odyssey through the Confused Avian Taxonomy of Ceram and Buru . In: Birding Asia . tape 7 , 2007, p. 18-38 (English).
- George Sangster, Ben F. King, Philippe Verbelen, Colin R. Trainor: A New Owl Species of the Genus Otus (Aves: Strigidae) from Lombok, Indonesia . In: Plos One . tape 8 (2), 53712 , 2013, pp. 1–13 , doi : 10.1371 / journal.pone.0053712 (English).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 7–12.
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 7–8.
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 9-10.
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 2–9.
- ↑ a b c Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 10-11.
- ↑ Rheindt & Hutchinson 2007, p. 20
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 1–2.
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, pp. 6–12.
- ↑ Sangster et al. 2013, p. 11.