NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Sao Tome Scops Owl
Otus hartlaubi (Giebel, 1872)
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.
São Tomé Scops-Owl (Otus hartlaubi)
thibaudaronson · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The São Tomé scops owl (Otus hartlaubi) is a species of owl in the true owl family, Strigidae. It is endemic to São Tomé Island, part of São Tomé and Príncipe, in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa.
Wikipedia contributors, São Tomé scops owl; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:26:56.921087+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Otus hartlaubi (Giebel, 1872)
- Name authority
- (Giebel, 1872)
- Common name
- Sao Tome Scops Owl
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Strigiformes
- Family
- Strigidae
- Genus
- Otus
- 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
- subfamilyStriginae
- genusOtus Pennant, 1769
- speciesOtus hartlaubi (Giebel, 1872)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Otus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Rajah Scops OwlOtus brookii (Sharpe, 1892) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Pallid Scops OwlOtus brucei (Hume, 1872) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Elegant Scops OwlOtus elegans (Cassin, 1852) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Enggano Scops OwlOtus enganensis Riley, 1927 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Everett's Scops OwlOtus everetti (Tweeddale, 1879) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Palawan Scops OwlOtus fuliginosus (Sharpe, 1888) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sandy Scops OwlOtus icterorhynchus (Shelley, 1873) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Morden's OwletOtus ireneae Ripley, 1966 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rinjani Scops OwlOtus jolandae Sangster, B. F. King, Verbelen & Trainor, 2013 | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sunda Scops OwlOtus lempiji (Horsfield, 1821) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Luzon Scops OwlOtus longicornis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1894) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Moluccan Scops OwlOtus magicus (S. Müller, 1841) | StrigidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Athene hartlaubi Giebel, 1872 Giebel, 1872 | synonym |
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=555374 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:4B8H7. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.