>Aegotheles albertisi (Mountain Owlet-nightjar)

Mountain Owlet-nightjar

Mountain Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. albertisi
Binomial name
Aegotheles albertisi Sclater, 1874

The Mountain Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles albertisi) is a species of bird in the Aegothelidaefamily. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

>Aegotheles archboldi (Archbold's Owlet-nightjar)

Archbold's Owlet-nightjar

Archbold's Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. archboldi
Binomial name
Aegotheles archboldi Rand, 1941

The Archbold's Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles archboldi) is a species of bird in the Aegothelidaefamily. It is found in West Papua, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montanes. It is named after American explorer Richard Archbold.

>Aegotheles wallacii (Wallace's Owlet-nightjar)

Wallace's Owlet-nightjar

Wallace's Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. wallacii
Binomial name
Aegotheles wallacii Gray, 1859

The Wallace's Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles wallacii) is a species of bird in the Aegothelidaefamily. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

>Aegotheles bennettii (Barred Owlet-nightjar)

Barred Owlet-nightjar

Barred Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. bennettii
Binomial name
Aegotheles bennettii Salvadori & D'Albertis, 1875

The Barred Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles bennettii) is a species of bird in the Aegothelidaefamily. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It has a spotted belly.

A. b. affinis is sometimes considered a full species

>Aegotheles cristatus (Australian Owlet-nightjar

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Australian Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. cristatus
Binomial name
Aegotheles cristatus (Shaw, 1790)

The Australian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles cristatus, is a nocturnal bird found in open woodland across Australia and in southern New Guinea. It is colloquially known as "Moth Owl". It is the most common of the owlet-nightjars, and the best known of this secretive family. It is the most common nocturnal bird in Australia, and despite suffering from predation and competition by introduced species it is not considered threatened.

Australian Owlet-nightjar

Description and habitats

At night in Wollombi Valley, New South Wales, Australia

The Australian Owlet-nightjar is a small to medium sized owlet-nightjar with grey upperparts and a white, barred front and a distinct dark and pale patterning on the head. In the north of Australia females can also have a rufous morph. The plumage is overall paler in desert populations. It is adapted to live in openwoodland, with more pointed wings and larger feet, unlike most of the rest of the family that live in dense forest (though some can and do live in such habitat inQueensland and New Guinea) . It lives in a variety of habitats as well as open woodland, including mangrove swamps, grasslands, mallee scrub as well as dense forest.

Behaviour

The Australian Owlet-nightjar feeds at night by diving from perches and snatching insects from the air, ground or off trunks and branches, in the manner of a flycatcher. It may also feed on the wing. It feeds on most insects, particularly beetles, grasshoppers and ants. During the day they roost in hollows in trees, partly for protection from predators and partly to avoid being mobbed by other birds that mistake them for owls.

The Australian Owlet-nightjar nests mainly in holes in trees (or in other holes and crevices), which is provisioned with leaves by both of the pair. It is thought that the frequent addition of eucalyptusleaves is because they act as a beneficial insecticide. Three or four eggs are laid, and incubated by the female for just under a month. Both the adults feed the chicks, which fledge after a month. The young birds are reported to stay close to the parents for several months after they fledge.

>Aegotheles crinifrons (Moluccan Owlet-nightjar)

Moluccan Owlet-nightjar

Moluccan Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. crinifrons
Binomial name
Aegotheles crinifrons (Bonaparte, 1850)

The Moluccan Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles crinifrons), also known as the Long-whiskered Owlet-nightjar, is a species of bird in the Aegothelidae family. It is endemic to Indonesia.

Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montanes.

>Aegotheles tatei (Spangled Owlet-Nightjar)

Spangled Owlet-Nightjar

Spangled Owlet-Nightjar
Conservation status
Data Deficient (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. tatei
Binomial name
Aegotheles tatei Rand, 1941

The Spangled Owlet-Nightjar (Aegotheles tatei), also known as the Starry Owlet-nightjar, is a species of bird in the Aegothelidae family. It is endemic to Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitatis subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests It is threatened by habitat loss.

>Aegotheles insignis (Feline Owlet-nightjar)

Feline Owlet-nightjar

Feline Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. insignis
Binomial name
Aegotheles insignis Salvadori, 1875

The Feline Owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles insignis) is a species of bird in the Aegothelidae family. It is found in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moistmontanes.

>Aegotheles savesi (New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar)

New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar

New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar
Aegotheles savesi - Illustrated by Joseph Smit, 1881
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. savesi
Binomial name
Aegotheles savesi (Layard,EL and Layard,ELC, 1881)

The New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi, also known as the Enigmatic Owlet-nightjar, is a large owlet-nightjar (a kind of bird related to swifts and goatsuckers) with vermiculated grey-brown and black plumage. It has a long, slightly rounded tail, short, rounded wings, and long, stout legs. Its voice is unknown but similar birds make churring and whistling sounds. It is much larger than the related Australian Owlet-nightjar.

This bird is endemic to New Caledonia’s Melaleuca savanna and humid forests. Other members of its genus are highly territorial and nest in holes in trees. These birds also forage by sitting on a branch and attacking small animals. It is unknown if these habits apply to the New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar, but this species is larger and has longer legs than the others, so it may be more terrestrial.

The type specimen was collected from a bird that flew into a bedroom in the village of Tonghoué. This large nightjar is known from two specimens taken in 1880 and 1915 and a couple of sightings. The most recent is from the 1998 expedition which saw a large nightjar foraging for insects at dusk in Rivière Ni Valley. This exciting report, plus noises similar to the genus being heard in 1996 and 1998, lead many to believe that this species still survives in small numbers.

>>Genus Aegotheles >Aegotheles novaezealandiae (New Zealand Owlet-nightjar)

New Zealand Owlet-nightjar

New Zealand Owlet-nightjar
Conservation status
Fossil
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Caprimulgiformes
Family:	Aegothelidae
Genus:	Aegotheles
Species:	A. novazelandiae
Binomial name
Aegotheles novazelandiae (Scarlett 1968)
Synonyms
Megaegotheles novazelandiae

The New Zealand Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles novazelandiae, was a large species of owlet-nightjar(family Aegothelidae) formerly endemic to the islands of New Zealand. Fossil remains (which are common in the pellets of the extinct Laughing Owl) indicate the species was once widespread across both North Island and South Island. Despite a small number of reports of small owls being found in the 19th century that may have been New Zealand Owlet-nightjars, the species is thought to have become extinct around 1200 AD.

The New Zealand Owlet-nightjar was the largest species of owlet-nightjar, weighing an estimated 150-200 g. The species was also either flightless, as suggested by its small wings, or a very poor flier (the species has a strong keel). The diet probably consisted of invertebrates, as well as frogs and lizards.

The species rapidly became extinct after the introduction of Pacific Rats to New Zealand. Their remains have never been found in association with Māori middens, and are unlikely to have been hunted due to their small size and nocturnal habits.

>>>Family Aegothelidae (Owlet-nightjar)

Owlet-nightjar

Owlet-nightjars
Barred Owlet-nightjar
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Subclass:	Neornithes
Infraclass:	Neognathae
(unranked):	Cypselomorphae
Order:	Aegotheliformes Simonetta, 1967
Family:	Aegothelidae Bonaparte, 1853
Genus:	Aegotheles Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
Synonyms
Megaegotheles

Owlet-nightjars are small nocturnal birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. ANew Zealand species is extinct. There is a single monotypic family Aegothelidae with the genusAegotheles.

Owlet-nightjars are insectivores which hunt mostly in the air but sometimes on the ground; their soft plumage is a crypic mixture of browns and paler shades, they have fairly small, weak feet (but larger and stronger than those of a frogmouth or a nightjar), a tiny bill that opens extraordinarily wide, surrounded by prominent whiskers. The wings are short, with 10 primaries and about 11 secondaries; the tail long and rounded.

Systematics

The comprehensive 2003 study analyzing mtDNA 
sequences Cytochrome b and ATPase subunit 8 suggests that 11 living species of owlet-nightjar should be recognized, plus one that went extinct early in the second millennium AD.

The relationship between the owlet-nightjars and the (traditional) Caprimulgiformes has long been controversial and obscure and remains so today: in the 19th century they were regarded as a subfamily of the frogmouths, and they are still generally considered to be related to the frogmouths and/or the nightjars. It appears though that that they are not so closely related to either as previously thought, and that the owlet-nightjars share a more recent common ancestor with theApodiformes. As has been suggested on occasion since morphological studies of the cranium in the 1960s, they are thus considered a distinct order, Aegotheliformes. This, the caprimulgiform lineage(s), and the Apodiformes, are postulated to form a clade calledCypselomorphae, with the owlet-nightjars and the Apodiformes forming the clade Daedalornithes.

In form and habits, however, they are very similar to both caprimulgiform group - or, at first glance, to small owls with huge eyes. Interestingly, the ancestors of the swifts and hummingbirds, two groups of birds which are morphologically very specialized, seem to have looked very similar to a small owlet-nightjar, possessing strong legs and a wide gape, while the legs and feet are very reduced in today's swifts and hummingbirds, and the bill is narrow in the latter.

They are an exclusively Australasian group, but close relatives apparently occurred all over Eurasiain the late Paleogene.

Species

FAMILY: AEGOTHELIDAE

• Genus Quipollornis (fossil; Early/Middle Miocene of New South Wales)
• Genus Aegotheles
  • New Zealand Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles novaezealandiae (prehistoric; formerly Megaegotheles)
  • New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles savesi
  • Feline Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles insignis
  • Starry Owlet-nightjar or Spangled Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles tatei
  • Long-whiskered Owlet-nightjar or Moluccan Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles crinifrons
  • Australian Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles cristatus
  • Barred Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles bennettii
    • Upland Barred Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles (bennettii) affinis
  • Wallace's Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles wallacii
  • Archbold's Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles archboldi
  • Mountain Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles albertisi
    • Salvadori's Owlet-nightjar, Aegotheles (albertisi) salvadorii

A fossil proximal right tarsometatarsus (MNZ S42800) was found at the Manuherikia River in Otago, New Zealand. Dating from the Early to Middle Miocene (Awamoan to Lillburnian, 19-16 million years ago), it seems to be of an owlet-nightjar ancestral to A. novaezealandiae.