Subspecies Ninox (Rhabdoglaux) rufa rufa (Gould, 1846)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Athene rufa Gould, J. 1846. Descriptions of eleven new species of Australian birds. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1846: 18-21 [Date published July 1911: published May] [18] [published almost simultaneously, with holotype figured on pl. 36, in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 cii 13 pp. 36 pls (Pt 23, June 1846)].

  Type data:

   Holotype ANSP 2552 unsexed adult (Verreaux cat. no. 127), Port Essington, NT, see Meyer de Schauensee (1957)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Stone, W. in Stone, W. & Mathews, G.M. 1913. A list of the species of Australian birds described by John Gould, with the location of the type-specimens. Austral Avian Records 1: 129–180 and Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 109: 123–246.

  Type locality references:

  Meyer de Schauensee, R. 1957. On some avian types, principally Gould's, in the collection of the Academy. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia 109: 123-246.
• Ninox olivii Mees, G.F. 1964. A revision of the Australian owls (Strigidae and Tytonidae). Zoologische Verhandelingen (Leiden) 65: 1-62 [9] [ex A.J. North, ms.; first published as junior synonym and unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(d) & (e)].

  Type data:

   Holotype AM O.12859, probably Katherine area, Arnhem Land, NT (as Cooktown)
  Comment: for probable identity of holotype, see Mason, I.J. & Schodde, R. 1980. Subspeciation in the Rufous Owl, Ninox rufa (Gould). Emu 80: 141–144.

  Type locality references:

  Mason, I.J. & Schodde, R. 1980. Subspeciation in the Rufous Owl, Ninox rufa (Gould). The Emu 80: 141-144.

 

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Mason, I.J. & Schodde, R. 1980. Subspeciation in the Rufous Owl, Ninox rufa (Gould). The Emu 80: 141-144 [142-143]

 

Distribution

States

Northern Territory, Western Australia

Extra Distribution Information

Coastal and subcoastal Kimberley Division and Arnhem Land, west to Prince Regent River and Mitchell Plateau, WA, and east to upper South Alligator River and Blue Mud Bay, NT, but absent from around Joseph Bonaparte Gulf—also Melville-Bathurst Ils.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NT, WA: Arnhem Coast (ARC), Arnhem Plateau (ARP), Central Arnhem (CA), Central Kimberley (CK), Daly Basin (DAB), Darwin Coastal (DAC), Dampierland (DL), Gulf Fall and Uplands (GFU), Gulf Coastal (GUC), Gulf Plains (GUP), Northern Kimberley (NK), Ord Victoria Plain (OVP), Pine Creek (PCK), Tiwi Cobourg (TIW), Victoria Bonaparte (VB)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • Northern Territory: N Gulf, N coastal
  • Western Australia: N coastal

Ecological Descriptors

Arboreal, carnivorous, closed forest, nocturnal, open forest, predator, sedentary, tall forest, territorial, volant.

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, seasonal breeder, general carnivore, permanently paired in rainforest and gallery vine forest, roosts arboreally by day in forest canopy, hunts by night in perch-and-pounce sallies through more open eucalypt and Melaleuca forest, nests on beds of decayed wood in high tree hollows, female alone broods.

 

General References

Estbergs, J.A. & Braithwaite, R.W. 1985. The diet of the Rufous Owl Ninox rufa near Cooinda in the Northern Territory. The Emu 85: 202-204 (diet)

 

History of changes

Published	As part of group	Action Date	Action Type	Compiler(s)
		12-Feb-2010	(import)