Ninox is a genus of 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 Samuel Tickell 1833.
Strix lugubris is now considered a
subspecies of the
brown boobook (
Ninox scutula lugubris).
Species
The genus contains 37 species:
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† Laughing owl, Ninox albifacies (extinct)
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Rufous owl, Ninox rufa
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Powerful owl, Ninox strenua
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Barking owl, Ninox connivens
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Sumba boobook, Ninox rudolfi
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Australian boobook, Ninox boobook
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Rote boobook Ninox rotiensis
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Timor boobook Ninox fusca
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Alor boobook, Ninox plesseni
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Tasmanian boobook, Ninox leucopsis
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Morepork, Ninox novaeseelandiae
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Northern boobook, Ninox japonica
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Brown boobook, Ninox scutulata
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Hume's boobook, Ninox obscura
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Chocolate boobook, Ninox randi
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Andaman boobook, Ninox affinis
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Philippine hawk-owl group
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Least boobook, Ninox sumbaensis
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Togian boobook, Ninox burhani
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Ochre-bellied boobook, Ninox ochracea
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Cinnabar boobook, Ninox ios
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Moluccan boobook group
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Christmas boobook, Ninox natalis
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Manus boobook, Ninox meeki
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Papuan boobook, Ninox theomacha
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Speckled boobook, Ninox punctulata
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New Britain boobook, Ninox odiosa
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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 taxon genus Sceloglaux.
In human culture
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"NINOX" is an Australian Army project to develop night-vision goggles; it is named after Ninox strenua.
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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
