Rote boobook explained

The Rote boobook (Ninox rotiensis) is a species of owl in the family Strigidae. It is endemic to Rote Island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia.

It was first described in 1997 by Australian biologists Ronald Johnstone and J.C. Darnell from a female collected in a mist net in 1990.^[1] It is smaller than the Australian boobook, with heavily barred primaries, rump and tail.^[2] Locally common, it is known as Tuterui and Kokorok in Landu and Oelaba localities respectively on the island.^[3] Genetic and call analysis show it to be markedly divergent from the Australian populations of the Australian boobook, leading Gwee and colleagues to suggest it be reclassified as a separate species,^[4] which duly happened in 2019.

Notes and References

1. Johnstone . R. E. . Darnell . J. C.. 1997 . Description of a new subspecies of boobook owl Ninox novaeseelandiae (Gmelin) from Roti Island, Indonesia . Western Australian Naturalist . 21 . 161–74 .
2. Book: König, Claus . Weick, Friedhelm . Becking, Jan-Hendrik . Owls of the World. A&C Black. 2009. Helm Identification Guides. 457–59. 978-1-4081-0884-0.
3. Asian enigma. First field observations of Ninox (novaeseelandiae) rotiensis on Roti island, Lesser Sundas, Indonesia . Phillippe . Verbelen . BirdingASIA . 2010 . 13 . 85–89.
4. Bioacoustic and multi-locus DNA data of Ninox owls support high incidence of extinction and recolonisation on small, low-lying islands across Wallacea . Gwee. Chyi Yin . Christidis. Leslie . Eaton. James A. . Norman. Janette A.. Trainor. Colin R.. Verbelen. Phillippe . Rheindt. Frank E. . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 2017 . 109 . 246–58 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2016.12.024 . 28017857.