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Typical Owls (Strigidae)

Mountain Scops-owl (Otus spilocephalus) - HBW 5, p. 154

French: Petit-duc tacheté German: Fuchseule Spanish: Autillo Montano
Other common names: Spotted/Spotted Mountain Scops-owl; Bornean Scops-owl (luciae); Vandewater’s Scops-owl (vandewateri); Stresemann’s (Mountain) Scops-owl (“stresemanni”)

Taxonomy: Ephialtes spilocephalus Blyth, 1846, Darjeeling.
Probably forms superspecies with O. balli and O. alfredi. Previously considered by some to include O. angelinae and O. longicornis as races, but differences in vocalizations indicate that all are separate species. Race vandewateri sometimes treated as full species, and sometimes as race of O. angelinae, but morphology and voice suggest better regarded as race of present species. Mt Kerinci (Sumatra) foothills form “stresemanni” variously regarded as race of present species, of O. icterorhynchus or of O. balli, or even as full .. View all taxonomy...

Taxonomy: Ephialtes spilocephalus Blyth, 1846, Darjeeling.
Probably forms superspecies with O. balli and O. alfredi. Previously considered by some to include O. angelinae and O. longicornis as races, but differences in vocalizations indicate that all are separate species. Race vandewateri sometimes treated as full species, and sometimes as race of O. angelinae, but morphology and voice suggest better regarded as race of present species. Mt Kerinci (Sumatra) foothills form “stresemanni” variously regarded as race of present species, of O. icterorhynchus or of O. balli, or even as full species forming superspecies with either of last 2; known only from single specimen collected in 1914, but has not been relocated and its status is uncertain; although has been suggested as pale form of vandewateri, this not borne out by comparison of the few available museum specimens. Current racial divisions and geographical limits obscure; populations in Bangladesh, Nagaland and Manipur sometimes separated as race rupchandi. Eight subspecies recognized.

Subspecies and Distribution:

  • huttoni (Hume, 1870) - N Pakistan E to C Nepal.
  • spilocephalus (Blyth, 1846) - C Nepal E to Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar.
  • latouchi (Rickett, 1900) - N Thailand and Laos to SE China and Hainan.

     See all 8 subspecies
  • huttoni (Hume, 1870) - N Pakistan E to C Nepal.
  • spilocephalus (Blyth, 1846) - C Nepal E to Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar.
  • latouchi (Rickett, 1900) - N Thailand and Laos to SE China and Hainan.
  • hambroecki (Swinhoe, 1870) - Taiwan.
  • siamensis Robinson & Kloss, 1922 - S Thailand to S Vietnam.
  • vulpes (Ogilvie-Grant, 1906) - Malay Peninsula.
  • vandewateri (Robinson & Kloss, 1916) - Sumatra.
  • luciae (Sharpe, 1888) - Borneo.

Photos

5 photos
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