Long-tufted screech owl
| Long-tufted screech owl | |
|---|---|
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| Long-tufted screech owl at Urupema, Santa Catarina (state), Brazil | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Strigidae |
| Genus: | Megascops |
| Species: | M. sanctaecatarinae |
| Binomial name | |
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Megascops sanctaecatarinae (Salvin, 1897) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Ephialtes argentina Schlegel, 1862 ((disputed name)) |
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Ephialtes argentina Schlegel, 1862 ((disputed name))
Otus atricapillus argentinus Hekstra, 1982 ((disputed name))
Otus choliba maximus Sztolcman, 1926
Otus choliba pintoi Kelso, 1936 ((disputed name))
The long-tufted screech owl (Megascops sanctaecatarinae) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is found in Argentina and Brazil. Recent revision of its distribution has also incorporated Uruguay (consequently excluded from the distribution of M. atricapilla).
The long-tufted screech owl was described as Scops sanctae-catarinae by Osbert Salvin in 1897. Robert Ridgway had previously described a type of S. brasilianus from the "St. Catherine's" range of southern Brazil. Salvin, however, in describing sanctaecatarinae, made no reference to Ridgway's early description.
The first author to recognize its validity was Richard Bowdler Sharpe, and, initially, this form was considered distinct from brasilianus (=choliba) as well as atricapilla, and the name was also employed in Dubois, who listed it as a "variation" of brasilianus. Later authors, including Cory and Peters placed it as a synonym of atricapillus. The opinion had also prevailed, by this time, that Otus should replace Scops as the genus name (though it is also currently recognized in Megascops).
This treatment was largely retained for several decades, with some exceptions, including Kelso and Olrog. Gerrit Hekstra revived recognition of sanctaecatarinae (14.9), listing it separately from atricapillus, (14.7), but as a subspecies, O. a. sanctaecatarinae and listing the name Otus choliba maximus (Sztolcman, 1926) as a synonym. Hekstra's numerated list corresponded to the descriptions of type specimens he had published the same year in his thesis, "A Revision of the American Screech Owls". In this thesis, and not in his published paper, Hekstra explicitly suppressed the scientific names he cited – that use of them was not to be construed as relevant to nomenclatural rules. The distribution of sanctaecatarinae included the states and provinces of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina (Brazil), and Misiones (Argentina). Further revision determined that sanctaecatarinae represented a distinct species of its own, and its distribution, including and in relation to that of atricapilla, was also revised, incorporating Uruguay, (which was consequently excluded from the distribution of atricapilla). This revision has recently prevailed, and almost all references to the family from the past 25 years, including references to these two species, reflect it.
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