The

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 ...

Mauritius scops owl (''Otus sauzieri''), also known as Mauritius owl, Mauritius lizard owl, Commerson's owl, Sauzier's owl, or Newton's owl, was endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius. It is known from a collection of

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 from the Mare aux Songes swamp, a detailed sketch made by de Jossigny in 1770, a no less detailed description by Desjardins of a bird shot in 1836, and a number of brief reports about owls, the first being those of Van Westzanen in 1602 and

Matelief Cornelis Matelief de Jonge (c. 1569 – October 17, 1632) was a Dutch admiral who was active in establishing Dutch power in Southeast Asia during the beginning of the 17th century. His fleet was officially on a trading mission, but its true inte ...

in 1606.

Taxonomy

No descriptions of owls were recorded between the mid-17th and the late 18th century. This led to considerable confusion, especially since the bones were referred to ear tuft-less ''

Strix Strix may refer to: * Strix (mythology), a legendary creature of ancient Roman mythology * ''Strix'' (bird), a genus of large "earless" wood-owls * Strix Ltd, manufacturer of kettle controls, thermostats and water boiling elements for domestic ap ...

'' or

barn owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

s, whereas the image and the description unequivocally show the presence of ear tufts. Thus, it was for a long time believed that 2 or even 3 species of owls occurred on the island. The supposed "barn owl" ''Tyto newtoni'' was described from

tarsometatarsus The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and some non-avian dinosaurs. It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsus (ankle bones) and meta ...

bones of what probably was a male individual of this species, whereas the Mauritius owl's

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * Ty ...

specimen seems to be a bone of a larger female bird. But the bird was neither a ''Strix'' nor a barn owl. Instead, the

Mascarene owls The Mascarene owls, also known as Mascarene scops owls or lizard owls, are a group of owls formerly classified in their own genus ''Mascarenotus'', but now thought to represent a polyphyletic grouping within the genus ''Otus''. They were restrict ...

of the genus ''Mascarenotus'' were most probably members of the scops owl lineage. The Mauritius bird was the largest species of its genus, with a total length of approximately 60 cm. Its scientific name honors

Théodore Sauzier Théodore is the French version of the masculine given name Theodore. Given name * Théodore Caruelle d'Aligny (1798–1871), French landscape painter and engraver *Théodore Anne (1892–1917), French playwright, librettist, and novelist * Théod ...

, who made the first bones available for scientific study. In 2018, a DNA study by Louchart and colleagues found that the ''Mascarenotus'' owls grouped among species of ''Otus'' (the scops owls), and therefore belonged to that genus. The cladogram below shows the placement of the Mauritius scops owl:

Extinction

The Mauritius scops owl was the largest carnivore on the island prior to human settlement. Thus, unlike other local species of birds, it was not much affected by the introduction of predators such as cats, rats, and

crab-eating macaque The crab-eating macaque (''Macaca fascicularis''), also known as the long-tailed macaque and referred to as the cynomolgus monkey in laboratories, is a cercopithecine primate native to Southeast Asia. A species of macaque, the crab-eating macaqu ...

s. In the 1830s, the species seems to have been not uncommonly found in the southeastern part of the island, between Souillac and the

Montagnes Bambous Montagnes may refer to: France Communes: * Ferrals-les-Montagnes, in the Hérault Department * Riom-ès-Montagnes, in the Cantal Department * Saint-Affrique-les-Montagnes, in the Tarn Department * Viviers-lès-Montagnes, in the Tarn Department Iv ...

due east of Curepipe, with the last testimony of observations referring to several encounters in 1837. However, as the cultivation of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and tea encroached upon its habitat, combined with reckless shooting, it disappeared rapidly. In 1859,

Clark Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...

wrote that the bird was extinct.

References

* Newton, Alfred & Gadow, Hans Friedrich (1893): On additional bones of the Dodo and other extinct birds of Mauritius obtained by Mr. Théodore Sauzier. ''Trans. Zool. Soc.'' 13: 281–302, plate 33: figures 11–18. {{Taxonbar, from=Q616205 Extinct birds of Indian Ocean islands Otus (bird) Bird extinctions since 1500 Birds of Mauritius Birds described in 1893 Extinct animals of Mauritius Species made extinct by human activities Taxa named by Hans Friedrich Gadow Mascarenotus Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN