Ninox

Ninox
Morepork (Ninox novaeseelandiae)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Strigidae
Genus:	Ninox Hodgson, 1837
Type species
Ninox nipalensis [1] = Strix lugubris Tickell 1833

Ninox is a genus of true owls comprising 36 extant and one extinct 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 scutulata lugubris). ^{[2] [3]}

Etymology

The ornithologist who first described Ninox ios gives the origin of the genus name as a portmanteau of nisus and noctua. ^[4]

Seram boobook (N. squamipila) (left); Timor boobook (N. fusca) (right)

Species

The genus contains 37 species: ^[5]

• † Laughing owl, Ninox albifacies (extinct)
• Rufous owl, Ninox rufa
• Powerful owl, Ninox strenua
• Barking owl, Ninox connivens
• Great Sumba boobook, Ninox rudolfi
• Australian boobook, Ninox boobook
• Rote boobook Ninox rotiensis
• Timor boobook Ninox fusca
• Alor boobook, Ninox plesseni
• Tasmanian boobook, Ninox leucopsis
• Morepork, Ninox novaeseelandiae
• Northern boobook, Ninox japonica
• Brown boobook, Ninox scutulata
• Hume's boobook, Ninox obscura
• Chocolate boobook, Ninox randi
• Andaman boobook, Ninox affinis
• Philippine hawk-owl group
  • Luzon boobook, Ninox philippensis
  • Mindanao boobook, Ninox spilocephala
  • Camiguin boobook, Ninox leventisi
  • Sulu boobook, Ninox reyi
  • Cebu boobook, Ninox rumseyi
  • Romblon boobook, Ninox spilonotus
  • Mindoro boobook, Ninox mindorensis
• Little Sumba boobook, Ninox sumbaensis
• Togian boobook, Ninox burhani
• Ochre-bellied boobook, Ninox ochracea
• Cinnabar boobook, Ninox ios
• Moluccan boobook group
  • Halmahera boobook, Ninox hypogramma
  • Buru boobook, Ninox hantu
  • Seram boobook, Ninox squamipila
  • Tanimbar boobook, Ninox forbesi
• Christmas boobook, Ninox natalis
• Manus boobook, Ninox meeki
• Papuan boobook, Ninox theomacha
• Speckled boobook, Ninox punctulata
• New Britain boobook, Ninox odiosa
• New Ireland boobook, Ninox variegata

Genomic studies of the extinct laughing owl of New Zealand indicate that it actually belongs in Ninox rather than the monotypic genus Sceloglaux. ^[6] 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 ]}

In human culture

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

References

1. "Strigidae". Howard & Moore Checklist Online. Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
2. Hodgson, Brian Houghton (1837). "Indication of a new genus belonging to the Strigine family, with description of the new species and type". Madras Journal of Literature and Science. 5: 23–25.
3. Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 258. ISBN   978-0-9568611-0-8.
4. C, Rasmussen, Pamela (1999). "A New Species of Hawk-Owl Ninox from North Sulawesi, Indonesia". The Wilson Bulletin. 111 (4). Archived from the original on 2024-09-17.
5. AviList Core Team (21 October 2026). "AviList: The Global Avian Checklist, v2026". doi: 10.2173/avilist.v2026 . Retrieved 31 October 2026.
6. Wood, Jamie R.; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Scofield, R. Paul; Pietri, Vanesa L. De; Rawlence, Nicolas J.; Cooper, Alan (2016). "Phylogenetic relationships and terrestrial adaptations of the extinct laughing owl, Sceloglaux albifacies (Aves: Strigidae)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1111/zoj.12483. ISSN   1096-3642.

• Olson, Storrs L. (1985): IX.C. Strigiformes. In: Farner, D.S.; King, J.R. & Parkes, Kenneth C. (eds.): Avian Biology8: 129–132. Academic Press, New York.

Further reading

• Gwee, CC.Y.; Christidis, L.; Eaton, J.A.; Norman, J.A.; Trainor, C.R.; Verbelen, P.; Rheindt, F.E. (2017). "Bioacoustic and multi-locus DNA data of Ninox owls support high incidence of extinction and recolonisation on small, low-lying islands across Wallacea". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 109: 246–58. Bibcode:2017MolPE.109..246G. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.024. PMID   28017857.