Tyto


Tyto is a genus of birds consisting of true barn owls, grass owls and masked owls that collectively make up all the species within the subfamily Tytoninae of the barn owl family, Tytonidae.

Taxonomy and systematics

Throughout their evolutionary history, Tyto owls have shown a better capability to colonize islands than other owls. Several such island forms have become extinct, some long ago, but some in comparatively recent times. A number of insular barn owls from the Mediterranean and the Caribbean were very large or truly gigantic species.

Extant species

Seventeen species are recognized:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Greater sooty owlTyto tenebricosaAustralia
Lesser sooty owlTyto multipunctataAustralia
Minahassa masked owlTyto inexspectataSulawesi, Indonesia
Taliabu masked owlTyto nigrobrunneaSula Islands, Maluku, Indonesia
Moluccan masked owlTyto sororculasouth Moluccas of Indonesia
Manus masked owlTyto manusiManus Island in the Admiralty Islands
Golden masked owlTyto aurantiathe island of New Britain, Papua New Guinea
Australian masked owlTyto novaehollandiaeSouthern New Guinea and the non-desert areas of Australia.
Sulawesi masked owlTyto rosenbergiithe Indonesian islands of Sulawesi, Sangihe and Peleng
Red owlTyto soumagneiMadagascar
Western barn owlTyto albaEurasia and Africa.
American barn owlTyto furcatathe Americas
Eastern barn owlTyto javanicasoutheast Asia and Australasia.
Andaman masked owlTyto deroepstorffisouthern Andaman Islands
Ashy-faced owlTyto glaucopsHaiti and the Dominican Republic.
African grass owlTyto capensissouthern Congo and northern Angola to the central coast of Mozambique and the other centred on South Africa from the Western Cape north to the southern extremities of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Mozambique.
Eastern grass owlTyto longimembriseastern, southern and southeast Asia, parts of New Guinea, Australia and the western Pacific

Extinct species

;Known from ancient fossils:
;Late prehistoric extinctions usually known from subfossil remains:


A number of owl fossils were at one time assigned to the present genus, but are nowadays placed elsewhere. While there are clear differences in osteology between typical owls and barn owls, there has been parallel evolution to some degree and thus isolated fossil bones cannot necessarily be assigned to either family without thorough study. Notably, the genus Strix has been misapplied by many early scientists as a "wastebasket taxon" for many owls, including Tyto.
They are darker on the back than the front, usually an orange-brown colour, the front being a paler version of the back or mottled, although there is considerable variation even amongst species. Tyto owls have a divided, heart-shaped facial disc, and lack the ear-like tufts of feathers found in many other owls. Tyto owls tend to be larger than bay owls. The name tyto is onomatopeic Greek for owl.

Footnotes