Tyto

Tyto is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae.

Tyto
Temporal range: Late Miocene–Recent
African grass owl, Tyto capensis
The "grass owls" are two rather long-legged species of Tyto.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Strigiformes
Family: Tytonidae
Subfamily: Tytoninae
Genus: Tyto
Billberg, 1828
Species

see text

Synonyms

Taxonomy and systematics

Throughout their evolutionary history, Tyto owls have shown a better capability to colonize islands than other owls. Several such island forms have become extinct, some long ago, but some in comparatively recent times. A number of insular barn owls from the Mediterranean and the Caribbean were very large or truly gigantic species.

Extant species

Seventeen species are recognized:[1]

ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Greater sooty owlTyto tenebricosaAustralia
Lesser sooty owlTyto multipunctataAustralia
Minahassa masked owlTyto inexspectataSulawesi, Indonesia
Taliabu masked owlTyto nigrobrunneaSula Islands, Maluku, Indonesia
Moluccan masked owlTyto sororculasouth Moluccas of Indonesia
Manus masked owlTyto manusiManus Island in the Admiralty Islands
Golden masked owlTyto aurantiathe island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Australian masked owlTyto novaehollandiaeSouthern New Guinea and the non-desert areas of Australia.
Sulawesi masked owlTyto rosenbergiithe Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Sangihe and Peleng
Red owlTyto soumagneiMadagascar
Western barn owlTyto albaEurasia and Africa.
American barn owlTyto furcatathe Americas
Eastern barn owlTyto javanicasoutheast Asia and Australasia.
Andaman masked owlTyto deroepstorffisouthern Andaman Islands
Ashy-faced owlTyto glaucopsHispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
African grass owlTyto capensissouthern Congo and northern Angola to the central coast of Mozambique and the other centred on South Africa from the Western Cape north to the southern extremities of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.
Eastern grass owlTyto longimembriseastern, southern and southeast Asia, parts of New Guinea, Australia (mainly in Queensland) and the western Pacific

Extinct species
Known from ancient fossils
  • Tyto sanctialbani (Middle - Late Miocene of Central Europe) - formerly in Strix; includes T. campiterrae
  • Tyto robusta (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of the Gargano Peninsula, Italy)
  • Tyto gigantea (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of the Gargano Peninsula, Italy)
  • Tyto balearica (Late Miocene - Middle Pleistocene of the west-central Mediterranean)
  • Tyto mourerchauvireae (Middle Pleistocene of Sicily, Mediterranean)
  • Tyto jinniushanensis (Pleistocene of Jing Niu Shan, China)
  • Tyto sp. 1
  • Tyto sp. 2
Late prehistoric extinctions usually known from subfossil remains
Fossils of Tyto cavatica
Fossil of Tyto ostologa

Former species

A number of owl fossils were at one time assigned to the present genus, but are nowadays placed elsewhere. While there are clear differences in osteology between typical owls and barn owls, there has been parallel evolution to some degree and thus isolated fossil bones cannot necessarily be assigned to either family without thorough study. Notably, the genus Strix has been misapplied by many early scientists as a "wastebasket taxon" for many owls, including Tyto.[3]

  • Tyto antiqua (Late Eocene/Early Oligocene of Quercy? - Early Miocene of France) was a barn owl of the prehistoric genus Prosybris; this taxon might be a nomen nudum, as the species was originally described in Strix, this requires confirmation[4]
  • Tyto edwardsi (Late Miocene of Grive-Saint-Alban, France) was a strigid owl, but has not yet been reliably identified to a genus; it might belong in Strix or the European Ninox-like group.
  • Tyto ignota (Middle Miocene of Sansan, France) was a strigid owl of unclear affinities; while it might belong into Strix, this requires confirmation[4]
  • "TMT 164", a distal left tarsometatarsus of a supposed Tyto from the Middle Miocene Grive-Saint-Alban (France); might also belong in Prosybris, as it is similar to Tyto antiqua[5]

Description

They 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. Tyto owls have a divided, heart-shaped facial disc, and lack the ear-like tufts of feathers found in many other owls. Tyto owls tend to be larger than bay owls. The name tyto (τυτώ) is onomatopeic Greek for owl.

Footnotes
  1. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Owls". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  2. Steadman (2006)
  3. Mlíkovský (2002): p.217
  4. Mlíkovský (2002)
  5. Ballmann (1969)

References
  • Ballmann, Peter (1969). Les Oiseaux miocènes de la Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère) [The Miocene birds of Grive-Saint-Alban (Isère)]. Geobios 2: 157–204. [French with English abstract] doi:10.1016/S0016-6995(69)80005-7 (HTML abstract)
  • Bruce, M.D. (1999). Family Tytonidae (Barn-owls). In: del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. (eds): Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 5 (Barn-owls to Hummingbirds): 34–75, plates 1–3. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. ISBN 84-87334-25-3
  • Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002). Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague. ISBN 80-901105-3-8 PDF fulltext
  • Olson, Storrs L. (1985). Section IX.C. Strigiformes. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 129–132. Academic Press, New York.
  • Steadman, David William (2006). Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77142-3.
  • Media related to Tyto at Wikimedia Commons
  • Data related to Tyto at Wikispecies
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