The bare-legged owl (''Margarobyas lawrencii''), also called the Cuban bare-legged owl or Cuban screech owl, 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 ...

that 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 ...

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and Isla de la Juventud. It belongs to the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

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 ...

''Margarobyas''.

Taxonomy and etymology

The bare-legged owl was described in 1800 and for a time, it was considered the same species as the Puerto Rican owl. However, it was later determined to be its own species by

George Newbold Lawrence George Newbold Lawrence (October 20, 1806 – January 17, 1895) was an American businessman and amateur ornithologist. Early life Lawrence was born in the city of New York on October 20, 1806. From his youth, Lawrence was a lover of birds and s ...

in 1868. It has variously been placed in the genera "''Noctua''", ''Gymnoglaux'', and ''Gymnasio''. The

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its m ...

moved it to 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 ...

'' in 1998. However, in 2003, they moved the bird back to the genus ''Gymnoglaux'' based on physical and vocal differences between the bare-legged owl and typical screech-owls. Finally, in 2008, the genus ''Margarobyas'' was proposed, as it was found that ''Gymnoglaux'' was a junior synonym of ''Gymnasio''. There is one possible subspecies: ''M. l. exsul'', found in western Cuba and the Isla de Juventud. It is supposedly differentiated by a darker brown color and more spots, although this subspecies is not generally recognized. ''Margarobyas'' comes from the Greek ''margarites'', a pearl, and ''byas'', an owl. This name was given as a reference to Cuba's status as the "Pearl of the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

." The species name, ''lawrencii'', is in honor of George Lawrence.

Description

The bare-legged owl is relatively small, measuring long, and weighing about . Its name comes from its featherless green-yellow legs, similar to those of the

burrowing owl The burrowing owl (''Athene cunicularia''), also called the shoco, is a small, long-legged owl found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or an ...

. These owls have dark brown eyes, no ear tufts, a cream-colored facial disk, and brown

rictal bristle The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for eating, preening, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, ...

s. The upperparts of these birds are largely brown to slightly rufous in colour. Their wing feathers have white barring, and there are white spots on their shoulder and scapular feathers. The underparts are gray- to yellow-white, with some brown streaking and occasionally even cross-barring on the sides and breast. Juvenile bare-legged owls have similar plumage colors to adults, but have fewer white spots.

Biology

The natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s of the bare-legged owl are

dry forests The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

moist forests, and heavily degraded former forest. It particularly prefers stands of palm trees. Most of its foraging is done on the ground, and it is strictly nocturnal. The bare-legged owl eats primarily

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s and other

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s. It will less frequently eat

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" ''Triadobatrachus'' is ...

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more j ...

s, and occasionally small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s. These birds are secondary cavity nesters, requiring either

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

holes (particularly in palm trees) or natural openings in trees or rock crevices. Not much is known of their breeding ecology, but breeding season is January to June. The average clutch size is two eggs, which are incubated by the female owl.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q27074741 Endemic birds of Cuba Strigidae Birds described in 1868 Taxa named by Philip Sclater Taxa named by Osbert Salvin Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the West Indies