The Maghreb owl (''Strix mauritanica'') is an owl of the earless owl

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, ''Strix''. It occurs in northwestern Africa from

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

. It was previously considered a subspecies of the

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is a stocky, medium-sized owl in the family Strigidae. It is commonly found in woodlands across Europe, as well as western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. The tawny owl' ...

. This species is a rather dark grey-brown with no evidence of morph colour variation. It is slightly dull, cooler and more uniform hue overall than ''Strix aluco aluco'' or ''Strix aluco sylvatica''. Study of genetic materials, including phylogeography, and the species dispersal behaviour, supports the division of ''Strix aluco mauritanica'' from the European subspecies, and it may even form its own species, with the Strait of Gibraltar as a natural gap between the ranges.Doña, J., Ruiz-Ruano, F. J., & Jovani, R. (2016). ''DNA barcoding of Iberian Peninsula and North Africa Tawny Owls Strix aluco suggests the Strait of Gibraltar as an important barrier for phylogeography''. Mitochondrial DNA Part A, 27(6), 4475-4478. Although sometimes suggested as about 5% smaller than ''Strix aluco aluco'', current data suggest it is of similar size to Italian nominate owls and Spanish ''Strix aluco sylvatica'' found on the other side of the Mediterranean. Standard measurements of both sexes are known to be in wing chord length, in tail length, in tarsal length and in bill length. Weight of males has been reported at whilst that of females at .

References

Maghreb owl Birds of North Africa Maghreb owl {{Strigiformes-stub