Original literature describing the entire Order of Strigiformes (extant and fossil Genera, species and subspecies) 1758 - 2007
A.E. Sieradzki, David H. Johnson, Paul Radley, Deane P. Lewis and Fred Ruhe.
671 extant owl papers
103 fossil owl papers
The Owl Description DVD
The Global Owl Project has successfully acquired clean copies of the original literature for the entire Order of Strigiformes, including the extant and fossil Genera, species and subspecies, which it presents here in the form of pdf files. On this Data DVD, we include a listing of the Extant owls and the Fossil owls, and link the associated 1,019 pdf files of the original descriptions of these owls to these lists. We also include an important Acknowledgment file, to give our thanks to the many key individuals who have helped us along the way.
Extant Owls: There are 671 extant (current) owl taxa in the world (i.e., 20 genera, 216 species, 435 subspecies). The associated linked .pdf files represent some 871 individual articles, culminating in excess of 1,600 pages of data (including full colour plates where appropriate).
Fossil Owls: We have completed a systematic review of the fossil owl taxa and have acquired clean copies of the original literature for all the valid fossil owls that have been discovered by science to date. There are 103 fossil owl taxa, (plus synonyms), presented in 148 .pdf files on this DVD.
Suggested citation: Sieradzki, A.E., D.H. Johnson, P. Radley, D.P. Lewis, & F. Ruhe. 2007. Original literature describing the entire Order of Strigiformes (extant and fossil Genera, species, and subspecies) 1758-2007. Global Owl Project. Center for Biological Diversity, Tucson, Arizona. [Data DVD].
The Global Owl Project (GLOW)
The Global Owl Project is an ongoing, fully international research program, dedicated to resolving the foundational aspects of taxonomy and conservation for the world’s owls. Work under this project is focused on seven main Tasks:
1. Develop scientifically-robust survey and monitoring methods for locating owls and their nests;
2. Analyze the molecular systematics and phylogeny of owls using mtDNA and ncDNA;
3. Acquire high-quality recordings of owl vocalizations, to assist in species identification;
4. Conduct analysis on morphological aspects on owl taxa, to assist in identification;
5. Refine maps of owl species distributions for conservation applications;
6. Access the role of owls in lore and culture from current and earlier societies around the world.
7. Distribute project information via internet pages, publications, and symposia to a very wide
audience, including national and international biodiversity programs.
Fundamental to the work being carried out in Task 4 has been the locating and acquisition of clean hard copies of all the original literature describing, or naming, each individual Genus, species and subspecies of extant owl; starting with Linnaeus’ ‘Systema Naturae’ from 1758 to the present day. This has been an enormous task, taking approximately three years to achieve, the results of which are placed onto this Data DVD. While the majority of original papers were relatively easy to obtain, a number proved extremely difficult to track down and acquire; either because of the extreme rarity of the original publication or because the original work itself had been published in an obscure publication.
More details on the Global Owl Project can be found on: www.globalowlproject.com.
David H. Johnson – Director, Global Owl Project 15 October 2007