Otus bikegila MELO, et al. 2022 (1 Viewer)

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Thanks to George Sangster (one of the co-authors), the following Paper was posted today, in BirdForum's Bird Taxonomy and Nomenclature section ... (here)

• Melo, M, B. Freitas, P. Verbelen, S. R. da Costa, H. Pereira, J. Fuchs, G. Sangster, M. N. Correia, R. F. de Lima & A. Crottini. 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 1126: 1–54.

... which gives us yet another bird/owl/name/guy to keep in mind!

• Otus bikegila sp. nov.

Etymology
The species name is a patronym honouring Ceciliano do Bom Jesus, known as ‘Bikegila’ (Suppl. material 5). The species epithet name is intentionally defined as an invariable noun in apposition (not a noun in the genitive case) for better pronunciation; no confusion with the species authority is possible because the noun is an oral nickname.

Bikegila, a native of Príncipe Island, began the ‘Príncipe Scops-Owl saga’ in 1998, when he shared with MM reports of two sightings of birds that looked like owls in parrot nests. Since then, Bikegila took part in every field effort ... (and onwards, it's quite a detailed explanation/dedication, also with a Photo of the guy himself)

Figure S3. Photograph taken at Boca do Inferno, Príncipe Island, January 27, 2019, showing the Principe Scops-Owl Otus bikegila sp. nov., the two first authors of the paper (BF on the left and MM on the right), and Ceciliano do Bom Jesus, known as ‘Bikegila’ (centre), who started the 20-year saga that led to this discovery, and in honour of whom the new species was named (see ‘Etymology’).

Also see: The recently discovered Principe Scops-owl is highly threatened: distribution, habitat associations, and population estimates (published today, here).

Even if less relevant (in this particular case, that is), the same guy was, as well, acknowledged in the following (older) Paper; here (on p.380), etc., etc.

Cheers!

Björn