Ninox

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = MoreporkMaunga.jpg

| image_caption = Morepork
(Ninox novaeseelandiae)

| taxon = Ninox

| authority = Hodgson, 1837

| type_species=Ninox nipalensis{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=72 |title= Strigidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-07-26}} = Strix lugubris

| type_species_authority = Tickell 1833

}}

Ninox is a genus of true owls comprising 36 species found in Asia and Australasia. Many species are known as hawk-owls or boobooks, but the northern hawk-owl (Surnia ulula) is not a member of this genus.

Taxonomy

The genus was introduced by English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837 with the type species as Ninox nipalensis, a junior synonym of Strix lugubris Tickell 1833. Strix lugubris is now considered a subspecies of the brown boobook (Ninox scutula lugubris).{{ cite journal | last=Hodgson | first=Brian Houghton | year=1837 | title=Indication of a new genus belonging to the Strigine family, with description of the new species and type | journal=Madras Journal of Literature and Science | volume=5 | pages=23–25 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/46442146 }}{{ cite book | editor-last1=Dickinson | editor-first1=E.C. | editor1-link=Edward C. Dickinson | editor-last2=Remsen | editor-first2=J.V. Jr. | editor2-link=James Van Remsen Jr. | year=2013 | title=The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World | volume= 1: Non-passerines | edition=4th | place=Eastbourne, UK | publisher=Aves Press | isbn=978-0-9568611-0-8 | page=258 }}

File:NinoxFuscaSquamipilaKeulemans.jpg

Species

The genus contains 37 species:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2021 | title=Owls | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/owls/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=20 May 2021 }}

Genomic studies of the extinct laughing owl of New Zealand indicate that it actually belongs in Ninox rather than the monotypic genus Sceloglaux.{{Cite journal|last1=Wood|first1=Jamie R.|last2=Mitchell|first2=Kieren J.|last3=Scofield|first3=R. Paul|last4=Pietri|first4=Vanesa L. De|last5=Rawlence|first5=Nicolas J.|last6=Cooper|first6=Alan|title=Phylogenetic relationships and terrestrial adaptations of the extinct laughing owl, Sceloglaux albifacies (Aves: Strigidae)|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|language=en|doi=10.1111/zoj.12483|issn=1096-3642|year=2016}} The fossil owls "Otus" wintershofensis and "Strix" brevis, both from the Early or Middle Miocene of Wintershof, Germany, are close to this genus; the latter was sometimes explicitly placed in Ninox (Olson 1985), but is now in Intutula. "Strix" edwardsi from the Late Miocene of La Grive St. Alban, France, might also belong into this group.{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}}

In human culture

  • "NINOX" is an Australian Army project to develop night-vision goggles; it is named after Ninox strenua.

References

{{Reflist}}

  • Olson, Storrs L. (1985): IX.C. Strigiformes. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology 8: 129–132. Academic Press, New York.

Further reading

  • {{cite journal | last1=Gwee | first1= CC.Y. | last2=Christidis | first2= L. | last3=Eaton| first3= J.A. | last4=Norman | first4=J.A.| last5=Trainor| first5= C.R.| last6=Verbelen | first6= P. | last7=Rheindt | first7= F.E. | year= 2017 | title=Bioacoustic and multi-locus DNA data of Ninox owls support high incidence of extinction and recolonisation on small, low-lying islands across Wallacea | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=109 | pages=246–58 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.024 | pmid= 28017857 | bibcode= 2017MolPE.109..246G }}

{{Strigiformes|S.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q913555}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Bird genera

Category:Taxa named by Brian Houghton Hodgson

{{Strigiformes-stub}}