Principe Scops Owl

Open encyclopedia reference

The Principe scops owl (Otus bikegila) is a species of scops owl found only on Príncipe Island of São Tomé and Príncipe, an island country in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Africa. First noticed by its distinctive nighttime call, it was formally described in 2022. The first records of suspicions of its existence are from 1928. Given its low population numbers and tiny range, researchers have asked the IUCN to declare it Critically Endangered, and this status was granted in 2023. Its distribution is limited to native forests where human activity is low—in fact, its range is entirely within a protected area, the Príncipe Obô Natural Park—and it seems to prefer larger trees. It feeds on insects. Its predators include the Mona monkey and the black rat.

Wikipedia contributors, Principe scops owl; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:13:10.769192+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Otus bikegila Melo, Freitas, Verbelen, da Costa, Pereira, Fuchs, Sangster, Correia, de Lima & Crottini, 2022

Name authority

Melo, Freitas, Verbelen, da Costa, Pereira, Fuchs, Sangster, Correia, de Lima & Crottini, 2022

Common name

Principe 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.

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. subfamilyStriginae
12. genusOtus Pennant, 1769
13. speciesOtus bikegila Melo, Freitas, Verbelen, da Costa, Pereira, Fuchs, Sangster, Correia, de Lima & Crottini, 2022

Close classified relatives

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

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.

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. Melo, Martim, Bárbara Freitas, Philippe Verbelen, Sátiro R. da Costa, Hugo Pereira, et al. (2022). A new species of scops-owl (Aves, Strigiformes, Strigidae, Otus) from Príncipe Island (Gulf of Guinea, Africa) and novel insights into the systematic affinities within Otus. Zookeys, Volume 1126. 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:CP79H. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.