''Athene'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 ...

s, containing nine living

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, depending on classification. These birds are small, with brown and white speckles, yellow eyes, and white eyebrows. This genus is found on all continents except for Australia,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

, and Sub-Saharan Africa. An

evolutionary radiation An evolutionary radiation is an increase in taxonomic diversity that is caused by elevated rates of speciation, that may or may not be associated with an increase in morphological disparity. Radiations may affect one clade or many, and be rapid ...

of 4 species (formerly thought to be in the genus ''

Ninox ''Ninox'' is a genus of true owls 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 ...

'') is also present in the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capit ...

Taxonomy and list of species

The genus ''Athene'' was introduced by the German zoologist

Friedrich Boie Friedrich Boie (4 June 1789 – 3 March 1870) was a German entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and lawyer.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Universit ...

in 1822. The

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

was designated as the little owl (''Athene noctua'') by the English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray FRS (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoologist and author, and head of the ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, in London for forty-one years. He was the younger brother ...

in 1841. The genus name is from the little owl which was closely associated with the Greek goddess

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded ...

, and often depicted with her. Her original role as a goddess of the night might explain the link to an owl. The genus contains the following nine species. The forest owlet was formerly placed in the monotypic genus '' Heteroglaux'', and the Solomon Islands radiation was formerly placed in the genus ''

'' with the other owls referred to as "boobooks" until taxonomic studies found them to group in ''Athene''.

Extinct species and subspecies

A number of mainly

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

representatives of this genus are only known from

fossil 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 ...

or subfossil remains: *'' Athene megalopeza'' (

; Rexroad Late Pliocene of west-central U.S.) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' *'' Athene veta'' (

; Early

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

of Rebielice, Poland) *'' Athene angelis'' (fossil; Middle - Late Pleistocene of Castiglione, Corsica) *'' Athene trinacriae'' (Pleistocene) *''Athene'' cf. ''cunicularia'' (fossil; Pleistocene of Barbuda, West Indies) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' *''Athene'' cf. ''cunicularia'' (fossil; Pleistocene of the Cayman Islands, West Indies) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' *''Athene'' cf. ''cunicularia'' (fossil; Pleistocene of Jamaica, West Indies) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' *''Athene'' cf. ''cunicularia'' (fossil; Pleistocene of Mona Island, West Indies) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' *''Athene'' cf. ''cunicularia'' (fossil; Pleistocene of Puerto Rico, West Indies) - sometimes placed in ''Speotyto'' * Cretan owl (''Athene cretensis'') ( prehistoric; Crete, Mediterranean) Candiacervus ropalophorus

The Cretan owl was a flightless or near-flightless form that was more than 50 cm (almost 2 ft) tall. It went extinct soon after the island of Crete became inhabited by humans. Late Miocene (about 11 mya) fossil remains from

Rudabánya Rudabánya is a town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Hungary. The town territory was the location of the discovery of a hominid from 12 million years ago, '' Dryopithecus brancoi'' (1969). International relations Rudabánya is twinned with: ...

(NE

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

) have been tentatively assigned to this genus.Bernor, R.L.; Kordos, L. & Rook, L. (eds):
Recent Advances on Multidisciplinary Research at Rudabánya, Late Miocene (MN9), Hungary: A compendium.
" ''Paleontographica Italiana'' 89: 3-36. Considering the known fossil range of ''Athene'' and the misassignments of many Miocene strigids from Europe, it may be a basal member of the present genus or not belong here at all. The supposed species ''"Athene" murivora'' was the name given to subfossil bones of male

Rodrigues scops owl The Rodrigues scops owl (''Otus murivorus''), also known as Rodrigues owl, Rodrigues lizard owl, Leguat's owl, or (somewhat misleadingly) Rodrigues little owl, was a small owl. It lived on the Mascarene island of Rodrigues, but it is nowadays e ...

s. ** Antiguan burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia amaura'') - extinct (c. 1905) ** Guadeloupe burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia guadeloupensis'') - extinct (c. 1890)

References

Bird genera {{Strigiformes-stub