Pernambuco pygmy owl
| Pernambuco pygmy owl | ||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Glaucidium mooreorum | ||||||||||
| Silva , Coelho & Gonzaga , 2002 |
The Pernambuco Pygmy Owl ( Glaucidium mooreorum ) is a rare owls - Art from the genus of pygmy owl . It is endemic to the Brazilian state of Pernambuco . The specific epithet honors the married couple Gordon and Betty Moore, who financially supported the conservation work of Conservation International in Pernambuco.
Appearance
The Pernambuco pygmy owl looks very similar to the small pygmy owl ( Glaucidium minutissimum ) and can be distinguished from it mainly by its lighter color and its vocalizations. The body measurements are based on two adult birds that were collected in 1980. The size is 14 to 15 centimeters, the wing length when the wing is outstretched is 8.7 centimeters, the tail length of the first specimen is 5.12 centimeters and the second is 5.06 centimeters. One example weighs 51 grams. The chest is yellowish-brown with a few inconspicuous white spots. Sides and flanks are also yellowish-brown with a few strands. The lower abdomen is white with yellowish-brown streaks. The eyes are yellow, the beak is greenish-yellow. The barrel and toes are orange-yellow.
Habitat and Distribution
The Pernambuco pygmy owl is only known from two localities in Pernambuco. The first is the Reserva Biológica de Saltinho, which covers an area of 4.8 square kilometers and is mainly dominated by old secondary forests. The second location is Usina Trapiche near Sirinhaém, where an individual was observed at the edge of the forest high in the canopy.
Way of life
Almost nothing is known about the way of life of the Pernambuco pygmy owl. It probably feeds on insects. In the only observation of a living specimen so far in 2001, a male ate a cicada.
status
There is only reliable evidence of this species of owl from 1980, 1990 and 2001. No trace of the Pernambuco pygmy owl was found during searches in Pernambuco and the neighboring Alagoas since 2004. BirdLife International assumes a population of less than 50 specimens and classifies the species in the category critically endangered . The distribution area probably covers less than 48 km² and is heavily fragmented by the deforestation of the Mata Atlântica .
Systematics
The type specimens of the Pernambuco pygmy owl were initially assumed to be either a subspecies of the small pygmy owl or the Amazon hawk owl. It was only when the vocalizations were recorded in 1990 that it was discovered that it was a separate species. Claus König and Friedhelm Weick reclassified the taxon as Glaucicidium minutissimum in 2005 . They demonstrated that the owl species, which Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied described as Strix minutissima in 1830 and is in the Natural History Museum at Tring, is almost identical to the species Glaucidium mooreorum described in 2002 . Claus König proposed to the South American Classification Committee (SACC) to use the binomial Glaucidium minutissimum for the Pernambuco pygmy owl and to consider the name Glaucidium mooreorum as an invalid synonym. This suggestion was rejected by the SACC in 2008 because König's argumentation only refers to the description of Prince zu Wied-Neuwied, but not to a genetic analysis of the type specimen that was collected in Bahia and therefore not from the known range of the Pernambuco pygmy owl originates. In contrast to König & Weick (2008), the current bird systematics (Howard & Moore, Clements, IOC) continue to use the name Glaucidium minutissimum for the small pygmy owl and Glaucidium mooreorum for the Pernambuco pygmy owl.
literature
- da Silva, José Maria Cardoso; Coelho, Galileu & Gonzaga, Pedreira. 2002. Discovered on the brink of extinction: a new species of Pygmy-Owl (Strigidae: Glaucidium) from Atlantic Forest of northeastern Brasil. In: Ararajuba 10 (2): p. 123-130 ( PDF online )
- Claus König, Friedhelm Weick: Owls of the World . Christopher Helm, London 2008, ISBN 978-0-7136-6548-2 (as Glaucidium minutissimum)
Web links
- BirdLife Species factsheet
- Owlpages - Pernambuco pygmy-owl
- Netzeitung: New species of owl discovered ( Memento from February 11, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- Glaucidium mooreorum inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Listed by: BirdLife International, 2012. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ C. König & F. Weick (2005): A new pygmy owl (Aves: Strigidae) from southeastern Brazil In: Stuttgart contributions to natural history. Series A (biology). State Museum of Natural History, Rosenstein.
- ↑ SACC: Change the name of Least Pygmy-Owl to Glaucidium sicki ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ SACC: Recognize Glaucidium mooreorum ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A classification of the bird species of South America ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
