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 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 ...

. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found else ...

to the island of

Mayotte Mayotte (; french: Mayotte, ; Shimaore: ''Maore'', ; Kibushi: ''Maori'', ), officially the Department of Mayotte (french: Département de Mayotte), is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is loca ...

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 (''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 (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, Comoros and

Seychelles Seychelles (, ; ), officially the Republic of Seychelles (french: link=no, République des Seychelles; Creole: ''La Repiblik Sesel''), is an archipelagic state consisting of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city, ...

form a clade 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 ...

with the Oriental scops owl (''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 (''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 categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1082533

Mayotte scops owl The Mayotte scops owl (''Otus mayottensis'') is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to the island of Mayotte in the Comoros. Taxonomy The Mayotte scops owl has been considered to be conspecific with the Pemba scops owl (''Ot ...

Birds of Mayotte Endemic birds of the Comoros Mayotte stops owl Taxa named by Constantine Walter Benson Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Endemic fauna of Mayotte