The Omani owl (''Strix butleri'') is an owl of the genus '' Strix'' found in shrubland and rocky areas of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...

. It was discovered in 2013. After the distinctive Omani owl was discovered, a similar-looking owl was reclassified from "Hume's owl" ''(Strix butleri)'' to the "

desert owl The desert owl or desert tawny owl (''Strix hadorami''), formerly known as Hume's owl, is a species of owl. It is closely related to the more widespread tawny owl and to the range-restricted Omani owl. This species is a part of the family Strigi ...

" ''(Strix hadorami).''

Original discovery

The

holotype A holotype is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism, known to have been used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of sever ...

of ''Strix butleri'' was collected by the English ornithologist Colonel

Edward Arthur Butler Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Butler (4 July 1843 – 16 April 1916) was an English ornithologist and British Army officer. He is commemorated in the scientific specific name for the Omani owl, ''Strix butleri''. Butler was born at Coto ...

. Butler sent the holotype to

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hum ...

, who described it in 1878, commemorating Butler with its scientific name. Hume was commemorated in the common name of the species before 2015 taxonomic revision. Over the following century, similar owls seen, heard and collected in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

were presumed to belong to the same species, but this was shown in 2015 to be incorrect.

Rediscovery and taxonomic revision

In 2013, Robb ''et al''. discovered a previously unknown population of ''Strix'' owl in Oman, morphologically and vocally different from the widespread Middle Eastern species of owl known at the time as Hume's owl ''Strix butleri''. They described this owl as a new species, giving it the binomial ''Strix omanensis'' and the common name Omani owl. It was described only from photographs and sound recordings, without a physical specimen or genetic sample. In 2015, analysis of the

of ''Strix butleri'' revealed that it was quite different from other specimens from throughout the Middle East presumed to be of the same species, and that it was more similar to the Omani owl; the authors concluded that ''Strix omanensis'' is most probably a synonym of ''Strix butleri'', and renamed the more widespread species ''Strix hadorami'', giving it the new common name

desert tawny owl The desert owl or desert tawny owl (''Strix hadorami''), formerly known as Hume's owl, is a species of owl. It is closely related to the more widespread tawny owl and to the range-restricted Omani owl. This species is a part of the family Strig ...

(subsequently shortened to desert owl by some authors).

Conservation status

The IUCN lists ''Strix omanensis'' (now considered a synonym of ''Strix butleri'') as data deficient. (The IUCN's evaluation for ''Strix butleri'' predates taxonomic changes, so now more properly applies to the

, ''Strix hadorami''.)

Description

The Omani owl has a bi-coloured pale and dark grey face with orange eyes, dark greyish brown upperparts, pale underparts with long, narrow vertical dark streaks, relatively long legs, banded wings, and a banded tail.

Habitat

The Omani owl has been observed in high rocky cliffs, but not in nearby

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

References