Spot-bellied eagle-owl
| Spot-bellied eagle-owl | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Strigiformes |
| Family: | Strigidae |
| Genus: | Bubo (but see text) |
| Species: | B. nipalensis |
| Binomial name | |
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Bubo nipalensis Hodgson, 1836 |
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The spot-bellied eagle-owl (Bubo nipalensis), also known as the forest eagle-owl is a large bird of prey with a formidable appearance. It is a forest-inhabiting species found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. This species is considered part of a superspecies with the barred eagle-owl (Bubo sumatranus), which looks quite similar but is allopatric in distribution, replacing the larger spot-bellied species in the southern end of the Malay Peninsula and the larger island in Southeast Asia extending down to Borneo.
This, like its close relative, the barred eagle-owl, is one of the species that would have to be moved into Ketupa if that genus is to be retained, according to mtDNA sequence data (Olsen et al. 2002). Unlike the "fish owls" that were also considered to be included in Ketupa, the barred and the spot-bellied species are not closely tied to riparian habitats and piscivorous eating habits. However, all eagle-owls and fish owls (as well as the snowy owl (Bubo scandianus)) have been deemed insufficiently distinct to warrant separate genera and current authors generally treat all within the Bubo genus. Due to its forest-dwelling habits and some superficial characteristics, it has been wondered by some authors if the spot-bellied eagle-owl is somehow related to the rainforest-dwelling eagle-owls of Africa, namely the Fraser's (Bubo poensis), Usambara (Bubo vosseleri) and similarly-sized Shelley's eagle-owl (Bubo shelleyi).
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Wikipedia