iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Tytonidae

Barn-owls

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Strigiformes
Family:Tytonidae
Ridgway, 1914
Genera


Tyto
Phodilus
For fossil genera, see article.
Synonyms


Tytoninae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist


Barn-owls (family Tytonidae) are one of the two families of owls, the other being the typical owls, Strigidae. They are medium to large sized owls with large heads and characteristic heart-shaped faces. They have long strong legs with powerful talons. They also differ in structural details relating in particular to the sternum and feet.

The barn owls comprise two extant sub-families: the Tytoninae or Tyto owls (including the Common Barn Owl) and the Phodilinae or bay-owls. The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy unites the Caprimulgiformes with the owl order; here, the barn-owls are a subfamily Tytoninae. This is unsupported by more recent research, but the relationships of the owls in general are still unresolved.

The barn owls are a wide ranging family, absent only from northern North America, Saharan Africa and large areas of Asia. They live in a wide range of habitats from deserts to forests, and from temperate latitudes to the tropics. The majority of the 16 living species of barn owls are poorly known. Some, like the Madagascar Red Owl, have barely been seen or studied since their discovery, in contrast to the Common Barn Owl, which is one of the best known owl species in the world. However, some sub-species of the Common Barn Owl possible deserve to be a species, and are very poorly known.

Five species of barn-owl are threatened, and some island species have gone extinct during the Holocene or earlier (e.g. Tyto pollens, known from the fossil record of Andros Island, and possibly the basis for the Chickcharnie). The barn-owls are mostly nocturnal, and generally non-migratory, living in pairs or singly.

Description

The barn-owls' main characteristic is the heart-shaped facial disc, formed by stiff feathers which serve to amplify and locate the source of sounds when hunting. Further adaptations in the wing feathers eliminate sound caused by flying, aiding both the hearing of the owl listening for hidden prey and keeping the prey unaware of the owl. Barn-owls overall are darker on the back than the front, usually an orange-brown colour, the front being a paler version of the back or mottled, although there is considerable variation even amongst species. The bay-owls closely resemble the Tyto owls but have a divided facial disc, ear tufts, and tend to be smaller.

Species

The fossil record of the barn-owls goes back to the Eocene, with the family eventually losing ground to the true owls after the radiation of rodents and owls during the Neogene epoch . Two subfamilies are only known from the fossil record, the Necrobyinae and the Selenornithinae. Numerous extinct species of Tyto have been described; see the genus page for more information.

Genus Tyto
Enlarge picture
Barn owl
Genus Phodilus Fossil genera
  • Nocturnavis (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene) - includes "Bubo" incertus
  • Necrobyas (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene - Late Miocene) - includes "Bubo" arvernensis and Paratyto
  • Selenornis (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of Quercy, France) - includes "Asio" henrici
  • Prosybris (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of Quercy? - Early Miocene of France)
Placement of the Late Eocene/Early Oligocene genera Palaeotyto and Palaeobyas from Quercy (France) in this family is tentative; they might belong to the Sophiornithidae instead.

The supposed "giant barn-owl" Basityto from the Early Eocene of Grafenmühle (Germany) was actually a crowned crane (Balearica); the presumed "Easter Island Barn-owl", based on subfossil bones found on Rapa Nui, has turned out to be some procellarid (Steadman, 2006).

References

  • Bruce, M. D. (1999): Family Tytonidae (Barn-owls). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds): Handbook of Birds of the World, Volume 5: Barn-owls to Hummingbirds: 34-75, plates 1-3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-25-3
  • Steadman, David William (2006): Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Islands Birds. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77142-3.

External links

T. novaehollandiae

Binomial name
Tyto novaehollandiae
(Stephens, 1826)

The Australian Masked Owl (Tyto novaehollandiae)
..... Click the link for more information.
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
..... Click the link for more information.
Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled until (UTC) due to vandalism.
If you are prevented from editing this page, and you wish to make a change, please discuss changes on the talk page, request unprotection, log in, or
..... Click the link for more information.
Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
..... Click the link for more information.
Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
..... Click the link for more information.
Strigiformes
Wagler, 1830

Families

Strigidae
Tytonidae
Ogygoptyngidae (fossil)
Palaeoglaucidae (fossil)
Protostrigidae (fossil)
Sophiornithidae (fossil)
Synonyms

Strigidae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist Owls
..... Click the link for more information.
Robert Ridgway (July 2, 1850 – March 25, 1929) was an American ornithologist.

Born in Mount Carmel, Illinois, Ridgway was a protege of zoologist Spencer Fullerton Baird, who, on becoming the secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, appointed Ridgway the first
..... Click the link for more information.
genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
..... Click the link for more information.
Tyto
Billberg, 1828

Species
  • Greater Sooty-owl T. tenebricosa
  • Lesser Sooty-owl T. multipunctata
  • Australian Masked-owl T. novaehollandiae
  • Cave-nesting Masked Owl, T. n.

..... Click the link for more information.
Phodilus

Species
  • P. badius
  • P. prigoginei


The bay owls are barn owls of the genus Phodilus, subfamily Phodilinae.
..... Click the link for more information.
In scientific nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names used for a single taxon. Usage and terminology are different for zoology and botany.

Zoology

In zoological nomenclature, synonyms are different scientific names that pertain to the same taxon, for example
..... Click the link for more information.
Strigidae
Vigors, 1825

Genera

some 25, see text
Synonyms

Striginae sensu Sibley & Ahlquist

True owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae).
..... Click the link for more information.
A talon is a claw of an animal, especially a bird of prey. It may also refer to:

Places:
  • Talon, Nièvre, a commune in the Nièvre département in France
People:
  • Durwin Talon, an illustrator and professor of new media

..... Click the link for more information.
T. alba

Binomial name
Tyto alba
(Scopoli, 1769)

Global distribution of Tyto alba


Synonyms

Strix alba Scopoli, 1769

..... Click the link for more information.
The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Sibley & Ahlquist 1990).
..... Click the link for more information.
Caprimulgiformes
Ridgway, 1881

Families

see text

The Caprimulgiformes is an order of birds that includes a number of birds with global distribution (except Antarctica). They are generally insectivorous and nocturnal.
..... Click the link for more information.
order (Latin: ordo, plural ordines) is a rank between class and family (termed a taxon at that rank). The superorder is a rank between class and order. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
..... Click the link for more information.
family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
..... Click the link for more information.


North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
..... Click the link for more information.
Sahara (Arabic: الصحراء الكبرى, aṣ-ṣaḥrā´ al-koubra, "The Great Desert", (
..... Click the link for more information.
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area (or 29.4% of its land area) and, with almost 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population.
..... Click the link for more information.
desert is a landscape form or region that receives very little precipitation. Deserts are defined as areas that receive an average annual precipitation of less than 250 mm (10 in). In the Köppen climate classification system, deserts are classed as (BW).
..... Click the link for more information.
FOREST (an acronym for "Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco") is a United Kingdom political pressure group that campaigns for the right of people to smoke tobacco and opposes attempts to ban or reduce tobacco consumption.
..... Click the link for more information.
temperate latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. However, a temperate climate can have very unpredictable weather.
..... Click the link for more information.
tropics are the geographic region of the Earth centered on the equator and limited in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere, at approximately 23°30' (23.5°) N latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn in the southern hemisphere at 23°30' (23.5°) S latitude.
..... Click the link for more information.
T. soumagnei

Binomial name
Tyto soumagnei
(Grandidier, 1878)

The Madagascar Red Owl, Tyto soumagnei, is an owl in the barn owl family Tytonidae.
..... Click the link for more information.
extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
..... Click the link for more information.
The Holocene epoch is a geological period, which began approximately 11,550 calendar years BP (about 9600 BC) and continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Neogene and Quaternary periods.
..... Click the link for more information.
T. pollens

Binomial name
Tyto pollens

Tyto pollens, also known as Andros Island Barn Owl, Bahaman Barn Owl, Bahaman Great Owl, or "Chickcharnie," was a 1 metre tall barn owl that lived in the
..... Click the link for more information.
Andros Island is the largest island of the Bahamas and the fifth largest island in the West Indies at roughly 2300 square miles (6,000 km²) in area and 104 miles (167 km) long and 40 miles (64 km) wide at its widest point.
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter