SNOWY OWL

DOWNLOADED: December 23, 2024, 3:03 PM

January 8, 2025, 3:31 PM

Taxonomy

The snowy owl was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of *Systema Naturae, where it was given the binomial name *Strix scandiaca.^[14] The genus name Bubo is Latin for "horned owl" and scandiacus is Neo-Latin for "of Scandinavia".^[15] The former generic name Nyctea is derived from Greek meaning "night".^[5] Linnaeus originally described the different plumages of this owl as separate species, with the male specimens of snowy owls being considered Strix scandiaca and the likely females considered as Strix nyctea.^[5][16] Until recently, the snowy owl was regarded as the sole member of a distinct genus, as Nyctea scandiaca, but mtDNA cytochrome *b* sequence data shows that it is very closely related to the horned owls in the genus Bubo and the species is now thusly often considered inclusive with that genus.^[17][18] However, some authorities debate this classification, still preferring Nyctea. Often authorities are motivated to retain the separate genus on the grounds of osteological distinctions.^[5][19]