Mascarene owls

Mascarene owls; Temporal range: Holocene
	Mascarenotus sauzieri
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Strigiformes
Family:	Strigidae
Genus:	†Mascarenotus
Species
	Mascarenotus grucheti; Mascarenotus murivorus; Mascarenotus sauzieri

The Mascarene owls, also known as Mascarene scops owls or lizard owls, were those belonging to the genus Mascarenotus. They were restricted to the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean. All three species, the Réunion owl, Mauritius owl, and Rodrigues owl, are now extinct.[1]

Recent genetic studies indicate that the three species in the genus actually belong in the genus Otus, which contains the typical scops owls. They are likely descended from the lineage of the Oriental scops owl (O. sunia), and share common ancestry with the scops owls found in Madagascar and the Comoros. The Mascarenotus grouping was found to be non-monophyletic, with the species having evolved the same morphology in parallel evolution, with the Rodrigues owl forming an outgroup to the clade containing the Mauritius owl, the rainforest scops owl and the Seychelles scops owl.[2]

References

Turvey, Sam (2009). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-953509-5.
Louchart, Antoine; Bastian, Fabiola; Baptista, Marilia; Guarino-Vignon, Perle; Hume, Julian P.; Jacot-des-Combes, Cécile; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Hänni, Catherine; Ollivier, Morgane (2018-10-11). "Ancient DNA reveals the origins, colonization histories, and evolutionary pathways of two recently extinct species of giant scops owl from Mauritius and Rodrigues Islands (Mascarene Islands, south-western Indian Ocean)". Journal of Biogeography. 45 (12): 2678–2689. doi:10.1111/jbi.13450. ISSN 0305-0270.

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[1] Turvey, Sam (2009). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-953509-5.

[2] Louchart, Antoine; Bastian, Fabiola; Baptista, Marilia; Guarino-Vignon, Perle; Hume, Julian P.; Jacot-des-Combes, Cécile; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Hänni, Catherine; Ollivier, Morgane (2018-10-11). "Ancient DNA reveals the origins, colonization histories, and evolutionary pathways of two recently extinct species of giant scops owl from Mauritius and Rodrigues Islands (Mascarene Islands, south-western Indian Ocean)". Journal of Biogeography. 45 (12): 2678–2689. doi:10.1111/jbi.13450. ISSN 0305-0270.