The Mayotte scops owl (''Otus mayottensis'') is a species of

owl Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...

in the family

Strigidae The true owls or typical owls (family (biology), family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls and bay owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the island of

Mayotte Mayotte ( ; , ; , ; , ), officially the Department of Mayotte (), is an Overseas France, overseas Overseas departments and regions of France, department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the Overseas departm ...

in the Comoros.

Taxonomy

The Mayotte scops owl has been considered to be conspecific with the Pemba scops owl (''Otus pembaensis''), the Anjouan scops owl (''Otus capnodes''), the rainforest scops owl and the

Torotoroka scops owl The Torotoroka scops owl (''Otus madagascariensis'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to western parts of Madagascar. Description It is very similar to the rainforest scops owl ''Otus rutilus'', and possibly indistingui ...

(''Otus madagascariensis'' under ''O. rutilus''), but this species has now been split and the Mayotte scops owl is now regarded as its own species, mainly based on its very different call. The scops owls of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

, Comoros and

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (; Seychellois Creole: ), is an island country and archipelagic state consisting of 155 islands (as per the Constitution) in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, Victoria, ...

form a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

within the genus

Otus Otus may refer to: * Otus (education), a K-12 educational technology company * HMS ''Otus'', two ships in the Royal Navy * ''Otus'' (bird), genus of owls * Otus (mythology), giant in Greek mythology, brother of Ephialtes, one of Aloadae * Otus o ...

with the

Oriental scops owl The oriental scops owl (''Otus sunia'') is a species of scops owl found in eastern and southern Asia. Description This is a small, variably plumaged, yellow-eyed owl with ear-tufts which are not always erect. It can be distinguished from the c ...

(''Otus sunia'') and are not closely related to the continental African scops owls.

Description

The Mayotte scops owl is very similar to the

rainforest scops owl The Madagascar scops owl (''Otus rutilus''), also known as the Malagasy scops owl or rainforest scops owl, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is found throughout Madagascar, now that it has recently been lumped with the Torotoroka s ...

(''Otus rutilus'') with which it was once considered conspecific. The upperparts are plain brown marked with faint light spots while the underparts are paler brown than the upperparts. The facial disk is also brownish with a contrasting darker rim restricted to just the sides and not seen above the eyes. The crown is brown with darker streaks and the flanks are more reddish-brown with short dark streaks. The eyes are yellow. The body length is .

Voice

The call of the Mayotte scops owl is a series of 3–11 deep, single hoots.

Distribution and habitat

It is endemic to Maore island in

. where it is common and widespread. The habitat of the Mayotte scops owl is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

Status

The population of the Mayotte scops owl is thought to be stable as there is no evidence for any decline or of any substantial threats, thus it is categorised as

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1082533 Mayotte scops owl Birds of Mayotte Mayotte stops owl Taxa named by Constantine Walter Benson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of Mayotte Endemic birds of Mayotte