<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Owls (Strigiformes) are small to large birds, mostly solitary and nocturnal predators. They can be found all around the Earth except Antarctica and some remote islands. The species differ in size, diet and habitat, which led to different morphological adaptations of the skull. The main differences are in the <italic>orbital</italic> and the <italic>otical</italic> region, which are connected to the visual and hearing capabilities. The aim of the recent study is to increase our knowledge of the relationship between skull shape and foraging habits and tried to find those characters that are related to diet. A geometric morphometric approach was used to analyse two-dimensional cranial landmarks. We used principal component (PC) analyses on measurements that may be related to visual and hearing abilities. The PCs are resulted in the robusticity of the skull and the asymmetry of the <italic>otical</italic> region. There are differences in position and shape of postorbital processes (POP) and <italic>tympanic</italic> wings (TW). Species with symmetrical skull shape are basically crepuscular or diurnal predators and species with more asymmetrical skulls are mostly nocturnal hunters and have better hearing capabilities.</p></abstract>

Owls (Strigiformes) are small to large birds, mostly solitary and nocturnal predators. They can be found all around the Earth except Antarctica and some remote islands. The species differ in size, diet and habitat, which led to different morphological adaptations of the skull. The main differences are in the orbital and the otical region, which are connected to the visual and hearing capabilities. The aim of the recent study is to increase our knowledge of the relationship between skull shape and foraging habits and tried to find those characters that are related to diet. A geometric morphometric approach was used to analyse two-dimensional cranial landmarks. We used principal component (PC) analyses on measurements that may be related to visual and hearing abilities. The PCs are resulted in the robusticity of the skull and the asymmetry of the otical region. There are differences in position and shape of postorbital processes (POP) and tympanic wings (TW). Species with symmetrical skull shape are basically crepuscular or diurnal predators and species with more asymmetrical skulls are mostly nocturnal hunters and have better hearing capabilities.

Analysis of skull morphometric characters in Owls (Strigiformes)

Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology

Department of Anatomy, Cell- and Developmental Biology

Ornis Hungarica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Analysis of skull morphometric characters in Owls (Strigiformes)"}

Owls (Strigiformes) are small to large birds, mostly solitary and nocturnal predators. They can be found all around the Earth except Antarctica and some remote...

Analysis of skull morphometric characters in Owls (Strigiformes)

Published Online: Jul 25, 2018

Page range: 41 - 53

Received: Apr 03, 2018

Accepted: Jun 25, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/orhu-2018-0003

Keywords
cranial morphology, morphometrics, anatomy, nocturnal predator, prey preference

© 2018 Tibor Pecsics et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Analysis of skull morphometric characters in Owls (Strigiformes)

Published Online: Jul 25, 2018

Page range: 41 - 53

Received: Apr 03, 2018

Accepted: Jun 25, 2018

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/orhu-2018-0003

Keywordscranial morphology, morphometrics, anatomy, nocturnal predator, prey preference

© 2018 Tibor Pecsics et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Keywords
cranial morphology, morphometrics, anatomy, nocturnal predator, prey preference