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The stilt-owls (''Grallistrix'') is an
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...
of
true owl The true owls or typical owls (family Strigidae) are one of the two generally accepted families of owls, the other being the barn owls (Tytonidae). This large family comprises 230 living or recently extinct species in 24 genera. The typical owl ...
s which contains four species, all of which lived on the
Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
. ''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 change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation t ...
in the absence of
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
ian
predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s on their island homes. They fed on smaller birds such as
Hawaiian honeycreeper Hawaiian honeycreepers are a group of small, passerine birds endemic to Hawaii. They are closely related to the rosefinches in the genus ''Carpodacus'', but many species have evolved features unlike those present in any other finch. Their great ...
s. They were also able to fly. 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 in ...
bones.


Species

* Kaua‘i stilt-owl, ''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 barn 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 mi ...
'' *''
Ornimegalonyx The Cuban giant 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''.Feduccia, Alan (1996) "The Origin and Evolut ...
'' *
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are avian taxa that became extinct during the Late Quaternary – the Holocene or Late Pleistocene – and before recorded history, or more precisely, before they could be studied alive by ornithol ...
*
List of extinct birds Around 129 species of birds have become extinct since 1500, and the rate of extinction seems to be increasing. The situation is exemplified by Hawaii, where 30% of all known recently extinct bird taxa originally lived. Other areas, such as Gua ...
*
List of fossil birds Birds evolved from certain feathered theropod dinosaurs, and there is no real dividing line between birds and non-avian dinosaurs except that some of the former survived the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event while the latter did not. For ...
*
List of extinct animals This page features lists of extinct species, organisms that have become extinct, either in the wild or completely disappeared from Earth. In actual theoretical practice, a species not definitely located in the wild in the last fifty years of cur ...
*
Flightless birds Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites (ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is the ...


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