The stilt-owls (''Grallistrix'') is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
true owl
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 ...
s which contains four species, all of which lived on the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands () are an archipelago of eight major volcanic islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the Hawaii (island), island of Hawaii in the south to nort ...
.
''Grallistrix'' can be loosely translated as "owl on
stilts
Stilts are poles, posts or pillars that allow a person or structure to stand at a height above the ground.
In flood plains, and on beaches or unstable ground, buildings are often constructed on stilts to protect them from damage by water, wav ...
". The genus received this name due to the long legs and terrestrial habits which they
evolved
Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...
in the absence of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
ian
predator
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...
s on their island homes. They fed on smaller birds such as
Hawaiian honeycreeper
Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small birds endemic to Hawaii. They are members of the finch family Fringillidae, closely related to the rosefinches (''Carpodacus''), but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any othe ...
s. They were also able to fly, but likely did most of their hunting on the ground, filling the niches occupied by medium-sized predatory mammals elsewhere.
The owls were never seen alive by scientists and are known only from
subfossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
bones.
Species
*
Kaua‘i stilt-owl
Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands.
It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 mi ...
, ''Grallistrix auceps''
*
Maui stilt-owl, ''Grallistrix erdmani''
*
Moloka‘i stilt-owl, ''Grallistrix geleches''
*
O‘ahu stilt-owl, ''Grallistrix orion''
See also
*''
Tyto pollens
''Tyto pollens'' is an extinct giant owl which lived in the Bahamas during the last Ice Age.
Description
It is only known from the partial remains of three individuals which have been collected on the islands of Little Exuma (the site was misid ...
''
*''
Ornimegalonyx
The giant Cuban owl or giant cursorial owl (''Ornimegalonyx'') is an extinct genus of giant owl that measured in height. It is closely related to the many species of living owls of the genus ''Strix (genus), Strix''.Feduccia, Alan (1996) "The Ori ...
''
*
List of Late Quaternary prehistoric bird species
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are avian taxa that became extinct during the Late Quaternary – the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene – and before recorded history, specifically before they could be studied alive by ornithol ...
*
List of extinct bird species since 1500
*
List of fossil bird genera
*
List of extinct animals
This page features lists of species and organisms that have become extinct. The reasons for extinction range from natural occurrences, such as shifts in the Earth's ecosystem or natural disasters, to human influences on nature by the overuse of n ...
*
Flightless birds
Flightless birds are birds that cannot Bird flight, fly, as they have, through evolution, lost the ability to. There are over 60 extant species, including the well-known ratites (ostriches, emus, cassowary, cassowaries, Rhea (bird), rheas, an ...
References
*
*
External links
* http://www.extinct.minks-lang.de/7voegel/a.birdsfamilien/strigidae1.htm
Extinct birds of Hawaii
Holocene extinctions
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
{{strigiformes-stub