Subspecies Tyto tenebricosa tenebricosa (Gould, 1845)

Museums

Regional Maps

• Strix tenebricosa Gould, J. 1845. In Proceedings of meeting of Zoological Society of London, July 22, 1845. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1845: 80 [80] [as tenebricosus, the termination of this adjectival name being corrected here under ICZN Art. 31(b); for identification of type material, 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; 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; although ANSP 2755 presumed holotype by 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, there is no evidence that the second specimen in BMNH quoted by Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 cii 13 pp. 36 pls (text to pl. 30) was not available for the original description—until such evidence is forthcoming, both specimens should be treated as syntypes, in which circumstances ANSP 2755 becomes lectotype under ICZN Art. 74(a); this specimen, a male by measurement (cf. 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), is figured on pl. 30 in Gould, J. 1848. The Birds of Australia. London : J. Gould Vol. 1 cii 13 pp. 36 pls; the paralectotype is probably one of the three specimens of Strix tenebricosa Gould, 1845 cited in BMNH by Sharpe, R.B. 1875. Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. Catalogue of the Striges, or Nocturnal Birds of Prey. London : British Museum Vol. 2 xi 325 pp. XIV pls (307)—it is not quoted as a type by Warren, R.L.M. 1966. Type-specimens of Birds in the British Museum (Natural History). Vol. 1 Non-Passerines. London : British Museum ix 320 pp.].

  Type data:

   Lectotype ANSP 2755 unsexed (=♂)* (Verreaux cat. no. 144), Clarence River, NSW (as the brushes of the river Clarence).
  Paralectotype(s) BMNH no. unspecified, Clarence River, NSW (as the brushes of the river Clarence).

  Subsequent designation references:

  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 [Date published 28 Feb 1913].
• Strix megaera Bonaparte, C.L. 1850. Conspectus Generum Avium. Tom. I. Lugduni, Batavorum : E.J. Brill 543 pp. [Date published 24 Jun 1850] [54] [as synonym of Strix tenebricosa Gould, 1845, and unavailable under ICZN Art. 11(e)].
• Tyto tenebricosa magna Mathews, G.M. 1912. A Reference-List to the Birds of Australia. Novitates Zoologicae 18: 171-455 [Date published 31 Jan 1912] [258] [holotype described in detail on pp. 404–405 in Mathews, G.M. 1916. The Birds of Australia. London : Witherby & Co. Vol. 5 pts 2–4 pp. 153–440 pls 245–274 [May 1916, publication dated as 1915–1916]].

  Type data:

   Holotype AMNH 629494 ♀ (G.M. Mathews' coll. no. 4341), VIC (as Victoria)
  Comment: for identification of holotype, see Greenway, J.C. 1978. Type specimens of birds in the American Museum of Natural History. Pt 2. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 161: 1–306.

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Schodde, R. & Mason, I.J. 1981. Nocturnal Birds of Australia. Illustrated by Jeremy Boot. Melbourne : Lansdowne Edns 136 pp. 22 pls. [publication dated as 1980] [65]

Generic Combinations

• Tyto tenebricosa tenebricosa (Gould, 1845).

Distribution

States

New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria

Extra Distribution Information

Restricted to coastal SE Australia and east scarps of Great Dividing Range, north to the Bunya, Jimna-Conondale and Blackall Ranges, QLD, with northern outlier on Clarke Range (?), south to Dandenong Ranges and central highlands of VIC (Mt Macedon region)—(?)accidental on Flinders Is., Bass Strait, where no recent records.

IBRA and IMCRA regions

drainage basins and coastal and oceanic zones

IBRA

NSW, Qld, Vic: Australian Alps (AA), Brigalow Belt North (BBN), Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Central Mackay Coast (CMC), Cape York Peninsula (CYP), Desert Uplands (DEU), Einasleigh Uplands (EIU), Flinders (FLI), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), NSW North Coast (NNC), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP), Wet Tropics (WT)

Original AFD Distribution Data

Australian Region

• Australia
  • New South Wales: SE coastal
  • Queensland: NE coastal
  • Victoria: Bass Strait, SE coastal

Ecological Descriptors

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

Extra Ecological Information

Randomly dispersed, opportunistic breeder, sexually dimorphic, general carnivore, roosts in hollows, tree canopy and caves, hunts in rainforests and dense, wet eucalypt forests adjacent, nests all seasons (?except winter) on bed of chips and debris in tree hollows, the female brooding.

General References

Beruldsen, G.R. 1986. Observations on the Sooty Owl Tyto tenebricosa in south-east Queensland. Australian Bird Watcher 11: 230-236 (ecology, behaviour, nidification)

Fleay, D. 1968. Nightwatchmen of Bush and Plain. Australian owls and owl-like birds. Brisbane : Jacaranda Press 163 pp. (general biology, voice, behaviour in captivity)

Hyem, E.L. 1979. Observations on owls in the Upper Manning River District, NSW. Corella 3: 17-25 (voice, territoriality, nidification)

Smith, P. 1984. Prey items of the Sooty Owl and the Barn Owl at Bega, New South Wales. Corella 8: 71-72 (diet)

History of changes