Owlet-nightjar

Owlet-nightjars
Temporal range: Early Miocene to present
Barred owlet-nightjar (Aegotheles bennettii)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Clade: Strisores
Clade: Daedalornithes
Order: Aegotheliformes
Worthy et al., 2007
Family: Aegothelidae
Bonaparte, 1853
Genus: Aegotheles
Vigors & Horsfield, 1827
Type species
Caprimulgus novaehollandiae[1]
Latham, 1790
Synonyms
  • Euaegotheles Mathews, 1918
  • Megaegotheles Scarlett, 1968

Owlet-nightjars are small crepuscular birds related to the nightjars and frogmouths. Most are native to New Guinea, but some species extend to Australia, the Moluccas, and New Caledonia. A flightless species from New Zealand is extinct. There is a single monotypic family Aegothelidae with the genus Aegotheles.

Owlet-nightjars are insectivores which hunt mostly in the air but sometimes on the ground; their soft plumage is a cryptic 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.

  1. ^ "Apodidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-08-05.