Mountain Scops-Owl

SCI Name:  Otus spilocephalus
Protonym:  Ephialtes spilocephalus J.Asiat.Soc.Bengal 15 p.8
Taxonomy:  Strigiformes / Strigidae / Otus
Taxonomy Code:  mosowl2
Type Locality:  Darjeeling.
Author:  Blyth
Publish Year:  1846
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

OTUS
(Strigidae; Ϯ Indian Scops Owl O. bakkamoena) L. otus  small eared owl  < Gr. ωτος ōtos  eared owl; "III.  OTUS BAKKAMOENA.  The Little Horn Owl.   THIS elegant species is found in Ceylon, is called there Bakkamoena, and is a scarce species even in that island.   It is represented of its natural size. The irides are scarlet: the horns take their origin from the base of the bill, and point to the sides of the head: on their inner side they are dusky, on their exterior white.  The bill is dusky, surrounded with long bristles: the circle of feathers round the eyes is of a very pale ash-color: the external circle of a yellowish brown.  The head of a deep ash-color: the back dusky: coverts of the wings grey, marked with narrow lines of black, pointing downwards: the quil feathers regularly barred with black and white: the breast buff-colored, marked with small sagittal black spots: the legs feathered half way down: the naked part of a reddish yellow." (Pennant 1769); "Otus Pennant, Indian Zool., 1769, p. 3. Type, by monotypy, Otus bakkamoena Pennant." (Peters 1940, IV, 86).  
Var. Otis.   
Synon. Acnemis, Athenoptera, Ephialtes, Gymnoscops, Heteroscops, Lempijius, Pisorhina, Scops, Scototheres, Zorca.

otus
L. otus  eared owl  < Gr. ωτος ōtos  eared owl; "42. STRIX.  ...  Otus.  4. S. capite auriculato pennis senis. Faun. svec. 47.  Otus s. Asio. Bell. av. 25. 6. Aldr. orn. 1. 8. c. 3. Will. ornith. 64. t. 12. Raj. av. 25. Frisch. av. t. 99. Alb. av. 2.. p. 10. t. 10.  Habitat in Europa.  Cristæ auritæ albidæ fasciis sex fuscis." (Linnaeus 1758) (Asio).

spilocephala / spilocephalus
Gr. σπιλος spilos  spot; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  < κεφαλη kephalē  head.

SUBSPECIES

Mountain Scops-Owl (huttoni)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus huttoni
huttoni
● Capt. Frederick Wollaston Hutton (1836-1905) British Army in the Crimea and India, geologist, resident in New Zealand (‡syn. Emeus crassus, syn. Megapodius pritchardii, syn. Pachyptila turtur, syn. Phalacrocorax chalconotus, syn. Phoebetria palpebrata, Ptilinopus, Puffinus).
● Capt. Thomas Hutton (1807-1874) British Army in India 1831-1853, and Afghanistan 1839-1840 (subsp. Argya caudata, syn. Emberiza buchanani, subsp. Otus spilocephalus, subsp. Prunella atrogularis).
● William Rich Hutton (1826-1901) US surveyor, civil engineer, artist, collector in California (Vireo).

Mountain Scops-Owl (spilocephalus)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus spilocephalus
spilocephala / spilocephalus
Gr. σπιλος spilos  spot; -κεφαλος -kephalos  -headed  < κεφαλη kephalē  head.

Mountain Scops-Owl (latouchi)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus latouchi
latouchi / latouchii
John David Digues La Touche (1861-1935) Irish ornithologist, Imperial Maritime Customs Service, China 1882-1921 (Aethopyga, syn. Eurystomus orientalis calonyx, subsp. Otus spilocephalus).

Mountain Scops-Owl (hambroecki)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus hambroecki
hambroecki
Antonius Hambroek or Hambroeck (1607-1661) Dutch missionary to Formosa, whose self-sacrifice at the hands of the Ming warlord Koxinga enshrined his fame (subsp. Otus spilocephalus).

Mountain Scops-Owl (siamensis)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus siamensis
siamense / siamensis
Siam, a former name for Thailand, and the origin of which is disputed (e.g. Pali suvannabhumi land of gold; Sanskrit syama dark; Portuguese corruption of Chinese name for the area Xian).

Mountain Scops-Owl (vulpes)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus vulpes
vulpes
L. vulpes, vulpis  fox (i.e. fox-coloured, tawny, russet).

Mountain Scops-Owl (vandewateri)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus vandewateri
vandewateri
Maj.-Gen. Abraham van der Water (1879-1938) Dutch Army in the Dutch East Indies, explorer in New Guinea 1912-1913 (Martin Schneider and Justin Jansen in litt.) (subsp. Otus spilocephalus).

Mountain Scops-Owl (luciae)
SCI Name: Otus spilocephalus luciae
luciae
• Lucy Stone Brewer (1854-1921) daughter of US ornithologist Thomas Brewer (Amazilia).
• Marie-Mélanie Varenne née Foussadier (fl. 1926) first wife of Alexandre Claude Varenne, French Gov.-Gen. of Indochina (shortly after her death Varenne married her former companion Marguerite Migeot) (Martin Schneider in litt.) (subsp. Gampsorhynchus torquatus).
• Lucy Hunter Baird (1848-1913) daughter of US ornithologist Spencer Fullerton Baird (Leiothlypis, syn. Thalurania glaucopis).
• Lucy Ashton Boosey née Whitehead (1866-1941) sister of explorer John Whitehead and wife of music publisher Arthur Boosey (Mark Brown in litt.) (subsp. Otus spilocephalus).