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NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD

Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl

Glaucidium nubicola Robbins & Stiles, 1999

Source-backed taxonomic record

Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.

Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl Glaucidium nubicola, Tandayapa, Ecuador

Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl Glaucidium nubicola, Tandayapa, Ecuador

markaharper1 · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Image source

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Open encyclopedia reference

The cloud-forest pygmy owl or cloudforest pygmy owl (Glaucidium nubicola) is a short, muscular, small-sized species of owl found throughout the Andes of western Colombia and north-western Ecuador, being confined to cloud forests between 900–2000 m a.s.l. Below this altitudinal range the Central American pygmy owl (Glaucidium griseiceps) occurs; above it, the Andean pygmy owl (Glaucidium jardinii) occurs.

Its epithet nubicola is Latin for "cloud-inhabiting", because this species is restricted to very humid cloud forests.

Wikipedia contributors, Cloud-forest pygmy owl; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:52:05.999056+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name
Glaucidium nubicola Robbins & Stiles, 1999
Name authority
Robbins & Stiles, 1999
Common name
Cloud-forest Pygmy Owl
Rank
species
Accepted status
accepted
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Chordata
Class
Aves
Order
Strigiformes
Family
Strigidae
Genus
Glaucidium
Extinction status
Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

  1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
  2. kingdomAnimalia
  3. phylumChordata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. infraphylumGnathostomata
  6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
  7. megaclassTetrapoda
  8. classAves
  9. orderStrigiformes
  10. familyStrigidae
  11. subfamilySurniinae
  12. genusGlaucidium F. Boie, 1826
  13. speciesGlaucidium nubicola Robbins & Stiles, 1999

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Glaucidium. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

SpeciesClassificationSource status
Yungas Pygmy OwlGlaucidium bolivianum C. König, 1991StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Ferruginous Pygmy OwlGlaucidium brasilianum (J. F. Gmelin, 1788)StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Northern Pygmy OwlGlaucidium californicum P. L. Sclater, 1857StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
African Barred OwletGlaucidium capense (A. Smith, 1834)StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Guatemalan Pygmy OwlGlaucidium cobanense Sharpe, 1875StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Central American Pygmy OwlGlaucidium griseiceps Sharpe, 1875StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Amazonian Pygmy OwlGlaucidium hardyi Vielliard, 1989StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Andean Pygmy OwlGlaucidium jardinii (Bonaparte, 1855)StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
East Brazilian Pygmy OwlGlaucidium minutissimum (Wied-Neuwied, 1830)StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Pernambuco Pygmy OwlGlaucidium mooreorum Cardoso da Silva, Coelho & Gonzaga, 2003StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Austral Pygmy OwlGlaucidium nana (P. P. King, 1827)StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant
Subtropical Pygmy OwlGlaucidium parkeri Robbins & S. N. G. Howell, 1995StrigidaeChordataAccepted speciesRecorded extant

Browse 196 records assigned to Strigidae.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

South America

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

  1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=686692 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3G647. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.