NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Christmas Boobook
Ninox natalis Lister, 1889
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.
Ninox natalis, Christmas Island 6798, Christmas Island, 2009-05-08 (iNaturalist).
ian_mcallan · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The Christmas boobook (Ninox natalis), also known as the Christmas hawk owl, Christmas Island boobook or Christmas Island hawk owl, is a species of owl in the family Strigidae.
Closely related to the hawk-owls of genus Ninox, which occur in Southeast Asia and Australia, N. natalis was first classified at species level by J.J.Lister in 1888. It was not until 1998, however, that DNA testing confirmed its status as a separate species from other owls.
Wikipedia contributors, Christmas boobook; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:19:05.667948+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Ninox natalis Lister, 1889
- Name authority
- Lister, 1889
- Common name
- Christmas Boobook
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Strigidae
- Genus
- Ninox
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderStrigiformes
- familyStrigidae
- subfamilyNinoxinae
- genusNinox Hodgson, 1837
- speciesNinox natalis Lister, 1889
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Ninox. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Andaman BoobookNinox affinis Beavan, 1867 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Australian BoobookNinox boobook (Latham, 1801) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Togian BoobookNinox burhani Indrawan & Somadikarta, 2004 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Barking BoobookNinox connivens (Latham, 1801) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cinnabar BoobookNinox ios Rasmussen, 1999 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mindoro BoobookNinox mindorensis Ogilvie-Grant, 1896 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Hume's BoobookNinox obscura Hume, 1872 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| New Britain BoobookNinox odiosa P. L. Sclater, 1877 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Speckled BoobookNinox punctulata (Quoy & Gaimard, 1832) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chocolate BoobookNinox randi Deignan, 1951 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sulu BoobookNinox reyi Oustalet, 1880 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sumba BoobookNinox rudolfi A. B. Meyer, 1882 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=686701 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:47FK9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.