Mauritius Owl
Scops commersoni (now a synonym of Mascarenotus sauzieri ) illustrated by Paul Philippe Sanguin de Jossigny in 1770
The Mauritius Owl ( Mascarenotus sauzieri ) is an extinct species of owl, which was native to the island of Mauritius. It has become known by subfossiles bone material, a drawing by Paul Philippe Sanguin de Jossigny and a manuscript of Philibert Commerson from 1770 as well as a description of Julien Desjardins from 1837.
Features
The Mauritius Owl probably reached a length of 42 centimeters. It was a large, long-eared owl with featherless legs. The top was dark brown, with the head, neck and back feathers were lined reddish. The tail was reddish - brown with a pale reddish mottling. The wings were brown and had irregular white, light beige and brown napkins. The throat and the side of the body were whitish. The rest of the underside was dark beige with whitish spots.
Way of life
The Mauritius Owl was the largest endemic predator in Mauritius. Judging by the powerful claws after they fed on lizards and probably of small birds.
Extinction
The first mention of owls in Mauritius originates from the Dutch Admiral Cornelis de Jonge Mate delivery from 1606, who noted that owls on the island were widespread. The most detailed description comes from Julien Desjardins from the year 1837. Desjardins stated that the copy, which he described, was established in October 1836 Bamboo Creek, a forested hill, killed. In September 1837 some specimens were still spotted near La Savane. In the same year, the last known specimen of a Dr. Dobson from the 99th Regiment was killed in the forest of Curipipe. The over-hunting combined with the habitat loss by the growth of tea and sugar plantations resulted in the rapid disappearance of this species of owl. 1859 confirmed the naturalist George Clark extinct Mauritius Owl.
System
The Mauritius Owl was first scientifically described in 1893 as Strix sauzieri of Edward Newton and Hans Friedrich Gadow on the basis of bone, the Théodore Sauzier 1889 had promoted in the fossil deposit Mare aux Songes in Mauritius days. 1896 described Émile oustalet the owl Scops commersoni based on a drawing by Paul Philippe Sanguin de Jossigny from the year 1770. Since the owl was portrayed in the drawing in natural size, the length of the tarsometatarsus of Scops commersoni with the length of the tarsometatarsus of Mascarenotus sauzieri matches and otherwise there were no other owl species in Mauritius, in 1994 a synonymisation made which summarized all owl taxa of Mauritius described above in one way. 1907 mentioned Walter Rothschild taxon Strix newtoni in his work Extinct Birds and found that two species of owls would have existed in Mauritius, once Strix sauzieri, which he described as a grass owl and Strix newtoni, which he regarded as a barn owl ( Barn Owl ). 1953 were recombined as Tyto sauzieri and Tyto newtoni Strix Strix sauzieri and newtoni of Masauji Hachisuka. 1971 synonymisierte Pierce Brodkorb the taxa T. and T. sauzieri newtoni together. 1987 reported the paleontologist Graham S. Cowles doubt that the classification was correct in the genus Tyto and on the other hand proposed a new genus for the Owls of the Mascarene Islands, which was described in 1994 as Mascarenotus.