Western Barn Owl Tyto alba Scientific name definitions

Strix alba Scopoli, 1769, Annus 1, Historico-Naturalis, p. 21.—“Ex Foro Juli” [= Friuli, northern Italy].

The whereabouts of any type material associated with Scopoli’s name is unknown, but some specimens from his personal collection survive in the Museo di Storia Naturale all Università di Pavia (33 Steinheimer, F. D. (2005). The whereabouts of pre-nineteenth century bird specimens. Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden 79(3):45–67. Close ).

Synonyms:
Strix splendens C. L. Brehm, 1855, Der vollständige Vögelsang: Eine gründliche Anleitung alle europaischen Vögel, p. 40.—northeast Africa. The lectotype, a male collected near Cairo, Egypt, in November 1848 by Wilhelm Friedrich Hemprich (1796–1825) and Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg (1795–1876), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629158) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ); designation by Hartert (35 Hartert, E. (1918). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. A. Types in the Brehm Collection. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):4–63. Close ), who stated that the specimen was received in exchange from the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, which possessed several specimens of this species collected by Hemprich and Ehrenberg.
Strix margaritata C. L. Brehm, 1855, Der vollständige Vögelsang: Eine gründliche Anleitung alle europaischen Vögel, p. 40.—no locality. The lectotype, a male collected (presumably in Egypt) and received from Prince Paul of Württemberg (1785–1852), according to Brehm, is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629167) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ); designation by Hartert (35 Hartert, E. (1918). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. A. Types in the Brehm Collection. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):4–63. Close ). In a subsequent publication, in 1858, Brehm made it clear where the material upon which his name was based came from.
Strix Kirchhoffi A. E. Brehm, 1857, Allgemeine deutsche naturhistorische Zeitung 3:440.—Spain. The holotype, a male collected in November 1856 by Alfred Edmund Brehm (1829–1884), which Hartert (35 Hartert, E. (1918). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. A. Types in the Brehm Collection. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):4–63. Close ) noted was the only Spanish specimen from Brehm in the Rothschild Collection, is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629121) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).
Strix paradoxa C. L. Brehm, 1858, Naumannia 8:217.—Algeria. The holotype, an adult male collected on the Bône Plain on 13 July 1855 by Dr Leopold Buvry (1822‒1870), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629147) (35 Hartert, E. (1918). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. A. Types in the Brehm Collection. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):4–63. Close , 34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).
Strix hostilis O. Kleinschmidt, 1915, Falco 11:18.—England. Described on the basis of two syntypes: a male collected at Hurst, Sussex, in August 1894, and a female taken at Bramber, Sussex, on 10 September 1897, both received via the dealer Brazenor in Brighton, and held at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK Coll. Kl. 6952 and ZFMK Coll. Kl. 6953) (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close , 37 van den Elzen, R. (2010). Type specimens in the bird collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Bonn Zoological Bulletin 59:29–77. Close ).
Tyto alba kleinschmidti von Jordans, 1924, Journal für Ornithologie 72:409.—Alcúdia, Mallorca. The holotype, a male collected on 9 May 1921 by Adolf Petrus Margareta Maria Joseph Hubertus von Jordans (1892‒1974), is held at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK A.III.13.a6.γ), along with the following paratypes: ZFMK A.III.13.a6.α, male taken on 7 April 1913; ZFMK A.III.13.a6.β, female, 9 May 1913; ZFMK A.III.13.a6.γ, male9 May 1921; ZFMK A.III.13.a6.δ, female, 22 May 1921; ZFMK A.III.13.a6.ε, male, 24 May 1921; ZFMK A.III.13.a6.ζ, male, 9 May 1921 (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close , 37 van den Elzen, R. (2010). Type specimens in the bird collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Bonn Zoological Bulletin 59:29–77. Close ).

Western and southern Europe (including Balearic Islands and Sicily) to northern Turkey; also western Canary Islands (Tenerife, Gran Canaria, El Hierro), and North Africa from Morocco to Egypt (except Sinai), south to northern Mauritania, southern Algeria, Niger (Aïr Massif), and northeast Sudan.

Vaurie (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ) noted that the nominate subspecies is paler than those in Macaronesia, with the upperparts more golden ochraceous brown (less mottled paler gray) and the underparts much whiter. In nominate alba the color of the underparts varies individually in both sexes from silvery white to buff, with or without small round brown spots; most males are white with only a few fine spots, whilst females are normally white but more frequently tinged with buff than males, are usually more abundantly spotted, and those spots are typically larger (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ). He also reported that alba averages larger than the Macaronesian subspecies (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Strix guttata C. L. Brehm, 1831, Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vögel Deutschlands, p. 106.—the northeast, perhaps Riga; in winter in Germany.

Name first introduced by Brehm three years earlier, in 1828, but as a nomen nudum initially. The whereabouts of the relevant specimen upon which Brehm’s description was based are unknown; it has not been identified in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ) or the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close , 37 van den Elzen, R. (2010). Type specimens in the bird collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Bonn Zoological Bulletin 59:29–77. Close ).

Synonyms:
Strix adspersa C. L. Brehm, 1855, Der vollständige Vögelsang: Eine gründliche Anleitung alle europaischen Vögel, p. 40.—no locality. The holotype, said to be a male, collected around Eisenberg in Altenburg, Thüringen, on 5 April 1816, is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629224) (35 Hartert, E. (1918). Types of birds in the Tring Museum. A. Types in the Brehm Collection. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):4–63. Close , 34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ). In a subsequent publication, in 1858, Brehm made it clear where the material upon which his name was based came from.
Strix Flammea rhenana O. Kleinschmidt, 1906, Berajah, Zoographia infinita 2, Strix Flammea, p. 20.—Darmstadt, Germany. Named by Kleinschmidt because Brehm’s type of guttata was thought to refer to a migrant not a resident individual. No type was mentioned in the original description, but a type series was designated in Kleinschmidt’s own collection catalogue. Rheinwald and van den Elzen (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close ) reported that the holotype is a female collected at Kornsand, on the River Rhine near Darmstadt on 3 November 1899 by Otto Kleinschmidt (1870–1954), held at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK Kl. 6920); they also reported the availability of ten paratypes (four males, six females) in the same collection, taken by Kleinschmidt at Kornsand in October 1892, March, October, and November 1899, September and October 1901, and April 1903 (ZFMK Kl. 6921‒6930). Another paratype, a specimen collected in September 1889, at the same locality, also by Kleinschmidt, is held in the Museum für Tierkunde, Staatliche Naturhistorische Sammlungen Dresden (SMTD C51053) (39 Eck, S., and C. Quaisser (2004). Verzeichnis der Typen der Vogelsammlung des Museums für Tierkunde in den Staatlichen Naturhistorischen Sammlungen Dresden. Zoologische Abhandlungen 54:233–316. Close ). In contrast, van den Elzen (37 van den Elzen, R. (2010). Type specimens in the bird collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Bonn Zoological Bulletin 59:29–77. Close ) considered the same specimens in Bonn to be the lectotype and paralectotypes, respectively, presumably (although this is not made explicit) considering the type attribution of Rheinwald and van den Elzen (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close ) to represent a lectotypification, which seems debatable.

Central Europe east to Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, and southeast to Albania, Macedonia, Romania, and northeast Greece.

Generally gray, sometimes buff-washed, above, buff (male) to rufous-buff (female) and usually is more coarsely and more abundantly spotted below (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Strix ernesti O. Kleinschmidt, 1901, Ornithologische Monatsberichte 9:168.—Loceri, Sardinia.

The holotype, a male collected on 17 April 1901 by Otto Kleinschmidt (1870–1954), is held at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum Koenig, Bonn (ZFMK Coll. Kl. 6945) (36 Rheinwald, G., and R. van den Elzen (1984). Die Wirbeltiersammlungen des Museums Alexander Koenig und ihre Typusexemplare. II. Vögel. Bonner Zoologische Monographien 19:49–150. Close , 37 van den Elzen, R. (2010). Type specimens in the bird collections of the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. Bonn Zoological Bulletin 59:29–77. Close ).

The subspecies ernesti is characterized as being paler above and purer white-breasted than nominate alba; a few females are tinged buff below, and may show a few very small spots below (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ). The primaries and tail are very much paler and only faintly barred brown, with the tail being virtually pure white in many individuals (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ). Averages slightly larger than nominate alba and guttata (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Tyto alba erlangeri W. L. Sclater, 1921, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ CIub 42:24.—Lahej, near Aden, Yemen.

The holotype, an adult female collected on 24 August 1899 by W. Dodson (d. 1900) during the British Museum Percival-Dodson Expedition, is held in the Natural History Museum, Tring (NHMUK 1900.8.5.44) (40 Warren, R. L. M. (1966). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1: Non-Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close ).

Synonym:
Tyto alba microsticta Koelz, 1950, American Museum Novitates 1452:3.—Jahrum, Fars, Iran. The holotype, a male collected on 25 March 1940 by Walter Norman Koelz (1895–1989), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 803060) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).

Crete and smaller southern Greek islands, Cyprus, and patchily from Syria east to southwest Iran and south to northeast Egypt (Sinai) and southern Arabian Peninsula.

Like T. a. ernesti, subspecies erlangeri is also white-breasted, but has the upperparts more golden, less gray, with the ochraceous plumage tracts paler and more extensive, and the gray-mottled areas reduced and having smaller and narrower white and brown spots (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ). The underparts are only weakly spotted or entirely unmarked, but is nevertheless on average slightly more spotted than ernesti; its primaries and tail are darker, and more darkly and broadly barred brown (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ). T. a. erlangeri further differs from ernesti, as well as from nominate alba, by having the tarsus less heavily feathered (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Strix flammea schmitzi E. Hartert, 1900, Novitates Zoologicae 7:534.—Funchal, Madeira.

The holotype, a male collected on 16 April 1898 by Padre Ernst Johann Schmitz (1845‒1922), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629195) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).

A buff-breasted subspecies, similar to gracilirostris in general coloration, but on average paler below, with the spots on the upperparts and underparts averaging somewhat coarser (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Strix flammea gracilirostris E. Hartert, 1905, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 16:31.—Fuerteventura, Canary Islands.

The holotype, a male collected on 28 May 1904 by Capt. Johann Polatzek (1838 or 1839‒1927), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629207) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).

Eastern Canary Islands (Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, Lobos, Montaña Clara, Alegranza).

A buff-breasted subspecies; overall paler than detorta, with a slenderer bill and overall smaller size than other Palearctic subspecies (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ).

Strix poensis Fraser, 1843, Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1842:189.—Fernando Po [= Bioko].

The holotype, collected at the settlement of Clarence around 1841 or 1842 apparently by Louis Fraser (1819–ca. 1883), might be expected to be held in one of the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK (UMZC), World Museum, Liverpool (WML) or the Natural History Museum, Tring (NHMUK), but it was not identified during surveys of these institutions’ respective type material (40 Warren, R. L. M. (1966). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 1: Non-Passerines. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close , 41 Warren, R. L. M., and C. J. O. Harrison (1973). Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Volume 3. Systematic Index. British Museum (Natural History), London, UK. Close , 42 Wagstaffe, R. (1978). Type Specimens of Birds in the Merseyside County Museums (Formerly City of Liverpool Museums). Merseyside County Museums, Liverpool, UK. Close , 43 Benson, C. W. (1999). Type specimens of bird skins in the University Museum of Zoology, Cambridge, UK. British Ornithologists' Club Occasional Publications No. 4. Close ). However, Moore and Jobling (44 Moore, A., and J. A. Jobling (2004). The unknown traveller—the ornithological collections of Louis Fraser. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 124(1):2. Close ) reported that specimens collected by Fraser also exist in museums in Germany and the USA, without being more specific as to which.

Synonyms:
Strix maculata C. L. Brehm, 1855, Der vollständige Vögelsang: Eine gründliche Anleitung alle europaischen Vögel, p. 40.—northeast Africa. The holotype, a female collected at Khartoum, Sudan, on 16 May 1851 by Alfred Edmund Brehm (1829–1884), is held at the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629262) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).
Strix affinis Blyth, 1862, Ibis 4:388.—Cape of Good Hope; Cape Town, Cape Province, South Africa, fixed as type locality by Grant and Mackworth-Praed (45 Grant, C. H. B., and C. W. Mackworth-Praed (1937). On the type-locality of Tyto alba affinis Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 388. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 57:157. Close :157). Blyth’s holotype was sent to the Indian Museum, Kolkata, from the Government Museum, Cape Town, via E. L. Layard, but Grant and Mackworth-Praed (45 Grant, C. H. B., and C. W. Mackworth-Praed (1937). On the type-locality of Tyto alba affinis Blyth, Ibis, 1862, p. 388. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 57:157. Close ) reported that their enquiries had revealed the specimen was no longer extant by the late 1930s. Considered to be grayer above than nominate, with more and coarser spotting below.
Tyto alba hypermetra Grote, 1928, Ornithologische Monatsberichte 36:79.—central Madagascar. The holotype, a female collected by Johann Maria Hildebrandt (1847‒1881) in December 1880, is held at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin (ZMB 18527).

Africa south from southern edge of Sahara, including Zanzibar and Pemba, and Madagascar and Comoro Islands.

Compared to other subspecies, poensis is darker above, more golden-buff and streaked and speckled black and white, primaries barred and tail buffier.

Tyto alba detorta E. Hartert, 1913, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 31:38.—Cape Verde Islands.

The holotype, a male collected on Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands on 4 December 1897 by Lieutenant Boyd Alexander (1873–1910), is held in the American Museum of Natural History, New York (AMNH 629305) (34 Greenway, J. C. (1978). Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History, Part 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161(1):1‒305. Close ).

Cape Verde Islands.

A buff-breasted subspecies, darker than in schmitzi and gracilirostris. Vaurie (38 Vaurie, C. (1965). The Birds of the Palearctic Fauna, Non Passeriformes. H. F. & G. Witherby, London, UK. Close ) considered this subspecies to be darker than all others in the Palearctic, with large and prominent spots above and broad dark bars on the primaries and tail.

Strix thomensis Hartlaub, 1852, Revue et Magasin de Zoologie pure et appliquée (2)4:3.—São Tomé.

The holotype, an adult male collected by Carl Weiss (dates unknown), a German medical surgeon who collected on São Tomé between 1847 and 1849 (46 Ceríaco, L. M. P., M. P. Marques, and A. M. Bauer (2018). Miscellanea Herpetologica Sanctithomae, with a provisional checklist of the terrestrial herpetofauna of São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobon islands. Zootaxa 4387(1):91–108. Close ), is held at at the Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Museum der Natur Hamburg (ZMH 216) (47 Bolau, H. (1898). Die Typen der Vogelsammlung des Naturhistorischen Museums zu Hamburg. Jahrbuch der Hamburgischen Wissenschaftlichen Anstalten 15:47–71. Close ).

Sometimes suggested to represent a species apart from the other taxa comprising Western Barn Owl, most recently by Mikkola (28 Mikkola, H. (2012). Owls of the World: A Photographic Guide. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), Uva et al. (31 Uva, V., M. Päckert, A. Cibois, L. Fumagalli, and A. Roulin (2018). Comprehensive molecular phylogeny of barn owls and relatives (Family: Tytonidae), and their six major Pleistocene radiations. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 125:127–137. Close ), and Alves (48 Alves, J. M. G. da C. (2019). Taxonomia, ecologia e conservação da coruja-das-torres de São Tomé (Tyto alba thomensis). M.Sc. thesis, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa. Close ).

São Tomé Island; reports from Príncipe Island are erroneous (49 de Lima, R. F., and M. Melo (2021). A revised bird checklist for the oceanic islands of the Gulf of Guinea (Príncipe, São Tomé and Annobón). Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 141(2):179–198. Close ).

Subspecies thomensis is smaller, much darker, dark gray above with conspicuous small black and white spots, and golden-brown below.