Hantu Boobook

SCI Name:  Ninox squamipila
Protonym:  Athene squamipila Consp.Gen.Av. 1 p.41
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Ninox
Taxonomy Code:  molhao4
Type Locality:  Ceram.
Author:  Bonaparte
Publish Year:  1850
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

NINOX
(Strigidae; Ϯ Brown Hawk Owl N. scutulata lugubris) Portmanteau of genera Nisus Cuvier, 1800, hawk, and Noctua de Savigny, 1809, owl; “Genus NINOX, nobis (a Niso et Noctua).   Type NINOX Nipalensis, nobis.   Character.—Bill, disc, conch, and feet as in Noctua.—General contour, with the character of the plumage, strictly falconidine.  Wings long and firm, 3d quill longest, 1st and 2d moderately gradated; the primes, pretty strongly emarginated high up from the tips; their edges, entirely or nearly so.  Tail long, straight and even.  Type, Ninox Nipalensis, nobis.  Habitat, central region of Nepal.  Habits, insectivorous and crepuscular.  The experienced Shikaree who brought me, recently, a fine male specimen of this bird, asked me, when he put it in my hand, whether it was a Baaz (hawk) or an Ulu (owl)? And the more I examined its graceful form, its unrelaxed plumage, its strong and ample wings and tail, and even its peculiar colouring, the greater reason did I perceive to admire the man’s acuteness of observation. It is an owl, undoubtedly, but the most accipitrine of owls; and, much as the peculiar attributes of Noctua had prepared me to expect, in or near this group of the Strigidæ, the type and symbol of the Accipitrinæ, I did not hope that the forests of Nepal would so soon yield that type to my own hands.*   SPECIES new, Nipalensis nobis.   ...   *I regret I have no species of Surnia wherewith to compare our bird. Surnia may possibly dispute with it the honour of typifying the nobler races of the Falconidæ: but the thickly plumed toes and wedged tail of Surnia, sufficiently indicate that our bird is not of that genus.” (Hodgson 1837); "Ninox Hodgson, Madras Journ. Lit. Sci., 5, 1837, p. 23. Type, by monotypy, Ninox nipalensis Hodgson = Strix lugubris Tickell." (Peters 1940, IV, 136).
Synon. Berneyornis, Cephaloglaux, Cephaloptynx, Ctenoglaux, Hieracoglaux, Rhabdoglaux, Rhodoglaux, Spiloglaux.

squamipila
L. squama  scale; pilus  hair.
● “rufa; subtus albida, nigricanti undulato-fasciata; tarsis, sicut et digitis, pilis brevissimus sparsis squamulosis” (Bonaparte 1850) (Ninox).

SUBSPECIES

Hantu Boobook (Buru)
SCI Name: Ninox squamipila hantu
hantu
Malay name Burung hantu  ghost bird, for an owl (Smathi Chong in litt.); "Burong Hantoo, or Pongo ... Hantoo and Pongo are both names given by the Malays to certain imaginary beings of evil omen, or in one word, hobgoblins" (Raffles 1822) (Ninox).

Hantu Boobook (Seram)
SCI Name: Ninox squamipila squamipila
squamipila
L. squama  scale; pilus  hair.
● “rufa; subtus albida, nigricanti undulato-fasciata; tarsis, sicut et digitis, pilis brevissimus sparsis squamulosis” (Bonaparte 1850) (Ninox).