Cloud-forest pygmy owl
| Cloud-forest pygmy owl | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Strigidae |
| Genus: | Glaucidium |
| Species: | G. nubicola |
| Binomial name | |
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Glaucidium nubicola Robbins & Stiles, 1999 |
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The cloud-forest pygmy owl (Glaucidium nubicola) is a short, muscular, small-sized species of owl found throughout the Andes of western Colombia and north-western Ecuador, being confined to cloud forests between 900–2000 m a.s.l. Below this altitudinal range the Central American pygmy owl (Glaucidium griseiceps) occurs; above the Andean pygmy owl (Glaucidium jardinii) occurs.
Its epithet nubicola means in Latin “cloud inhabiting”, because this species is restricted to very humid cloud forests.
The cloud-forest pygmy owl was first described under its current binomial name by ornithologists Mark B. Robbins and F. Gary Styles in 1999.Glaucidium is the diminutive form of the Greek word “glaux” (γλαύξ), meaning “little owl”; and the species name nubicola means “cloud inhabiting” in Latin.
The cloud-forest pygmy owl belongs to the genus Glaucidium whose lineage include 26 to 31 species of small owls. All species of Glaucidium are diurnal or crepuscular owls that prey on insects, reptiles and small birds. This genus appertains to the owl family Strigidae. In the past, the cloud-forest pygmy owl was considered to be conspecific with the more widespread Andean pygmy owl (Glaucidium jardinii), which breeds in the humid montane and temperate forest of the Andes.
The cloud-forest pygmy owl is a small owl, 14.5 –16 cm (5.7-6.3 in) in length with an 92.8-96.3 cm (3.7-3.8 in) wingspan. Weight can range from 75.6 to 79.3 g (2.7 to 2.8 lb). The male and female have similar markings and plumage, but as in many birds of prey this pygmy owl may display sexual dimorphism in size, with the female being more than 3% larger and more than 3% heavier than the male. The standard linear measurements are: the tail measures 46.8 mm (1.8 in) and the bill (from cere to tip) measures 11.3 mm (0.4 in). (Note that all these measurements come from only three males and one female of Glaucidium nubicola.)
This presumably sexual dimorphism is referred to as reversed sexual dimorphism (RSD).
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Wikipedia