Bearded Screech-Owl

SCI Name:  Megascops barbarus
Protonym:  Scops barbarus Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 p.56
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Megascops
Taxonomy Code:  besowl
Type Locality:  Santa Barbara, Vera Paz, Guatemala.
Author:  Sclater & Salvin
Publish Year:  1868
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

MEGASCOPS
(Strigidae; Ϯ Eastern Screech Owl M. asio) Gr. μεγας megas, μεγαλη  megalē  great; genus Scops Brünnich, 1772, owl. "5tes Subgenus. Megascops, Kp., Asiones, Schleg.  Schnabel vorgestreckt. Flügel kurz und stumpf. 1ste Schwinge so lang wie die 10te. 1ste bis 5te Schwinge an der Aussen- und Innenfahne deutlich ausgeschnitten. Fusswurzel befiedert. Zehen meist vollständig nackt.   8. Scops asio, Gr. Less." (Kaup 1851). The Eastern Screech Owl and its New World congeners were formerly placed in the genus Scops (= Otus).   
Synon. Athene, Gymnasio, Pseudociccaba.

barbarus
● Barbary Coast, North Africa (see barbara); TL. Wadi Kasserine, Tunisia (syn. Bubo ascalaphus).
● “41. FALCO.  ...  barbarus.  6. F. cera pedibusque luteis, corpore cærulescente fuscoque maculato, pectore immaculato, cauda fasciata.  Falco tunetanus. Alb. av. 3. p. 2. t. 2.  Habitat in Barbaria." (Linnaeus 1758).  This epithet is the twelfth name and second toponym in avian nomenclature (syn. Falco pelegrinoides).
● Error for L. barbatus  bearded; ex “Vultur barbatus” of Brisson 1760, and “Bearded Vulture” of Edwards 1743-1751, and Latham 1781 (syn. Gypaetus barbatus).
● L. barbarus  savage, wild, barbarous; ex “Pie-grièche rouge du Sénégal” of Brisson 1760 (Laniarius) (cf. L. barbarus  a rustic name for the European Bee-eater).
● Santa Barbara, Vera Paz, Guatemala (Megascops).
● Barbary Coast, North Africa; TL. Middle Atlas, Morocco (subsp. Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax).