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Natural history museums are vital repositories of specimens, samples and data that inform about the natural world; this Formal Comment revisits a Perspective that advocated for the adoption of compassionate collection practices, querying whether it will ever be possible to completely do away with whole animal specimen collection.

A new species of scops-owl (Aves, Strigiformes, Strigidae, Otus) is described from Príncipe Island, São Tomé and Príncipe (Gulf of Guinea, Africa). This species was discovered for science in 2016, although suspicions of its occurrence gained traction from 1998, and testimonies from local people suggesting its existence could be traced back to 1928. Morphometrics, plumage colour and pattern, vocalisations, and molecular evidence all support the species status of the scops-owl from Príncipe, which is described here as Otus bikegila sp. nov. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that this species descended from the first colonisation of the Gulf of Guinea islands, being sister to the clade including the mainland African Scops-Owl O. senegalensis, and the island endemics Sao Tome Scops-Owl O. hartlaubi and Pemba Scops-Owl O. pembaensis. The most diagnostic trait in the field is its unique call which, curiously, is most similar to a distantly related Otus species, the Sokoke Scops-Owl O. ireneae. The new species occurs at low elevations of the old-growth native forest of Príncipe, currently restricted to the south of the island but fully included within Príncipe Obô Natural Park. Otus bikegila sp. nov. takes the number of single-island endemic bird species of Príncipe to eight, further highlighting the unusually high level of bird endemism for an island of only 139 km2.

Abstract Multiple molecular phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that two Neotropical raptors, tiny hawk Accipiter superciliosus and its sister species semicollared hawk A. collaris, are not closely related to core Accipiter, and that A. superciliosus, at least, possesses osteological characters not replicated in the remainder of the genus. Based on these data, there is a need to recognise their distinctiveness at generic level. However, as recently noted in two global bird checklists, no name is available to accommodate them, so we provide a new nomen here. Furthermore, two Asian accipitrids, crested goshawk A. trivirgatus and its presumed closest relative Sulawesi goshawk A. griseiceps, are also phylogenetically distinctive; in this case the genus-group name Lophospiza is applicable. We also designate type species for two genus-group names (Hieraspiza and Eusparvius) currently in the synonymy of Accipiter, and, as an aid to future workers, we provide a synonymy of the genus Accipiter and a list of species currently included in Accipiter for which published molecular phylogenetic data are apparently lacking.

Animal signals often encode information on the emitter’s species identity. Using woodpecker drumming as a model, here the authors show that limited signal divergence during a clade radiation does not impair species discrimination, as long as the signals are adapted to local ecological requirements.

On 9 August 2020, one of 10 tagged Eurasian curlews we tracked with GPS died on Ile Madame, France, and we managed to collect the corpse for further analyses. Our investigation proved that the bird was shot, as x-ray imagery revealed a single lead ball under the bill skin, while the bill had been recently broken. The study of the GPS tracks during the last days and hours of the bird’s life indicated a normal foraging activity during the previous night. The bird moved to the high tide roosting bank of Ile Madame during the night, and was shot to death at sunrise. Directed intentionally or not towards the curlew, the shot was the cause of the death. The Eurasian Curlew is endangered to extinction, and as such is not huntable anymore across Europe. With an adult survival estimated at 92 %, any additional adult mortality can have a noticeable impact on population dynamics, hence on extinction risk. For the sample of 10 adult curlews we tagged, this single additional mortality by illegal shooting theoretically doubles the annual mortality rate. The tagged individual belonged to the small threatened Belgian breeding population estimated to count 170–230 breeding pairs.

Abstract Background Birds of prey (raptors) are dominant apex predators in terrestrial communities, with hawks (Accipitriformes) and falcons (Falconiformes) hunting by day and owls (Strigiformes) hunting by night. Results Here, we report new genomes and transcriptomes for 20 species of birds, including 16 species of birds of prey, and high-quality reference genomes for the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), oriental scops owl (Otus sunia), eastern buzzard (Buteo japonicus), and common kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). Our extensive genomic analysis and comparisons with non-raptor genomes identify common molecular signatures that underpin anatomical structure and sensory, muscle, circulatory, and respiratory systems related to a predatory lifestyle. Compared with diurnal birds, owls exhibit striking adaptations to the nocturnal environment, including functional trade-offs in the sensory systems, such as loss of color vision genes and selection for enhancement of nocturnal vision and other sensory systems that are convergent with other nocturnal avian orders. Additionally, we find that a suite of genes associated with vision and circadian rhythm are differentially expressed in blood tissue between nocturnal and diurnal raptors, possibly indicating adaptive expression change during the transition to nocturnality. Conclusions Overall, raptor genomes show genomic signatures associated with the origin and maintenance of several specialized physiological and morphological features essential to be apex predators.

Abstract Background The Cambodian Tailorbird (Orthotomus chaktomuk) was one of the most recent major ornithological discoveries in South-east Asia as it originated from lowland seasonally flooded scrub within the densely inhabited floodplain around the Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers (Cambodia). The Cambodian Tailorbird is sister to the Dark-necked Tailorbird (O. atrogularis) with very limited genetics and biometric differentiation. Between 2004 and 2012, evidences of a new population of Ashy Tailorbird (O. ruficeps) in SE Cambodia/Vietnam accumulated but no museum specimens were ever reported. The Ashy Tailorbird currently consists of eight subspecies among which the closest geographical populations, O. r. cineraceus (SE Burma to Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Bangka and Belitung) and O. r. borneoensis (Borneo), are allopatric. Subspecific identification of the Cambodian Ashy Tailorbirds individuals was not possible because of the limited differences in plumage among subspecies. Methods We inspected the Orthotomus ruficeps specimens housed at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle (Paris) and discovered five specimens of O. ruficeps collected by Louis Rodolphe Germain in ‘Cochinchina’ (corresponding to southern Vietnam) during the nineteenth century. We sequenced one mitochondrial locus and gathered biometric data from these specimens and compared them with other Orthotomus lineages. Results The Ashy Tailord population from SE Cambodia and Vietnam is distinct from the two geographically close subspecies O. r. borneoensis (1.7%) and O. r. cineraceus (1.3%). O. chaktomuk is nested within O. atrogularis in the mitochondrial gene tree. The SE Cambodia/Vietnam population of O. ruficeps is distinct from the two other subspecies in bill shape. Conclusion Our study described the biometric and molecular distinctiveness of a recently re-discovered population of Ashy Tailord in SE Cambodia and Vietnam and suggests that this population constitutes an independent evolutionary lineage that we describe here as a new subspecies. The newly described Cambodian Tailorbird is nested within the Dark-necked Tailorbird and the genetic divergence is much lower than initially described (0.4‒0.7% vs 1.1‒1.4%).

We report here the successful assembly of the complete mitochondrial genomes of the northern spotted owl (Strix occidentalis caurina) and the barred owl (S. varia). We utilized sequence data from two sequencing methodologies, Illumina paired-end sequence data with insert lengths ranging from approximately 250 nucleotides (nt) to 9,600 nt and read lengths from 100–375 nt and Sanger-derived sequences. We employed multiple assemblers and alignment methods to generate the final assemblies. The circular genomes of S. o. caurina and S. varia are comprised of 19,948 nt and 18,975 nt, respectively. Both code for two rRNAs, twenty-two tRNAs, and thirteen polypeptides. They both have duplicated control region sequences with complex repeat structures. We were not able to assemble the control regions solely using Illumina paired-end sequence data. By fully spanning the control regions, Sanger-derived sequences enabled accurate and complete assembly of these mitochondrial genomes. These are the first complete mitochondrial genome sequences of owls (Aves: Strigiformes) possessing duplicated control regions. We searched the nuclear genome of S. o. caurina for copies of mitochondrial genes and found at least nine separate stretches of nuclear copies of gene sequences originating in the mitochondrial genome (Numts). The Numts ranged from 226–19,522 nt in length and included copies of all mitochondrial genes except tRNAPro, ND6, and tRNAGlu. Strix occidentalis caurina and S. varia exhibited an average of 10.74% (8.68% uncorrected p-distance) divergence across the non-tRNA mitochondrial genes.

Unfortunately, the original article (Fuchs and Zuccon 2018) contained some errors. The Tables 1, 2 and Additional file 1: Table S2 were displayed incorrectly. The correct tables can be found below.