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Revision as of 21:10, 23 October 2008
- Tyto tenebricosa
Identification
Distribution
New Guinea and coastal eastern Australia.
Taxonomy
This member of the genus Tyto is clearly closest related to the Lesser Sooty Owl. These two species have an unusual "leapfrog" distribution in that the Lesser is surrounded by Greater Sooty Owl both to the north in New Guinea (subspecies arfaki) and to the south in mainland Australia (subspecies tenebricosa); other species that show leapfrog distributions are Logrunner/Chowchilla in the same area and Grey Trembler/Brown Trembler in the Caribbean. A DNA analysis of the three Sooty Owl populations found small differences between the three populations (0.6 - 0.8 %), in spite of especially size differences. This lack of DNA sequence difference has been seen as an argument against keeping the two Sooty Owls as different species, so a lump may be forthcoming. Reference on the DNA analysis: J. A. Norman, L. Christidis, L. Joseph, B. Slikas & D. Alpers (2002) Unravelling a biogeographical knot: origin of the 'leapfrog' distribution pattern of Australo-Papuan sooty owls (Strigiformes) and logrunners (Passeriformes). Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. Biological Sciences. 269, 2127-2133. (Full text available online).
