Ninox is a genus of true owls comprising about 30 species found in Asia and Australasia. Many species are known as hawk owls or boobooks. Note that the northern hawk-owl Surnia ulula is not a member of this genus. Molecular analysis indicates the genus is an early offshoot from the ancestors of the rest of the true owls, and are maybe best-classified in a subfamily Ninoxinae with the genera Sceloglaux and Uroglaux. The genus was introduced by the English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1837.
The species of Ninox are:
Rufous owl, Ninox rufaPowerful owl, Ninox strenuaBarking owl, Ninox connivensSumba boobook, Ninox rudolfiLittle Sumba hawk-owl, Ninox sumbaensisMorepork, Ninox novaeseelandiaeNorfolk boobook, Ninox novaeseelandiae undulata - extinct (1996)Lord Howe boobook, Ninox novaeseelandiae albaria - extinct (1950s)Ninox novaeseelandiae leucopsisNinox novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiaeSouthern boobook, Ninox boobookNinox boobook boobookNinox boobook cinnamominaNinox boobook fuscaNinox boobook halmaturinaNinox boobook luridaNinox boobook moaeNinox boobook ocellataNinox boobook plesseniNinox boobook pusillaNinox boobook remigialisNinox boobook rotiensisAndaman hawk-owl, Ninox affinisBrown hawk-owl, Ninox scutulataHume's hawk-owl, Ninox obscuraNorthern boobook, Ninox japonicaChocolate boobook, Ninox randiWhite-browed hawk-owl, Ninox superciliarisPhilippine hawk-owl groupLuzon hawk-owl, Ninox philippensisMindoro hawk-owl, Ninox mindorensisSulu hawk-owl, Ninox reyiMindanao hawk-owl, Ninox spilocephalaRomblon hawk-owl, Ninox spilonotusCebu hawk-owl, Ninox rumseyiCamiguin hawk-owl, Ninox leventisiOchre-bellied boobook, Ninox ochraceaCinnabar boobook, Ninox iosMoluccan boobook groupTanimbar boobook, Ninox forbesiHalmahera boobook, Ninox hypogrammaHantu boobook, Ninox squamipilaChristmas boobook, Ninox natalisPapuan boobook, Ninox theomachaManus boobook, Ninox meekiSpeckled boobook, Ninox punctulataNew Ireland boobook, Ninox variegataNew Britain boobook, Ninox odiosaSolomons boobook, Ninox jacquinotiTogian boobook, Ninox burhaniThe fossil owls "Otus" wintershofensis and "Strix" brevis, both from the Early or Middle Miocene of Wintershof West, Germany, are close to this genus; the latter was sometimes explicitly placed in Ninox (Olson 1985) but is now in Intutula. "Strix" edwardsi from the Late Miocene of La Grive St. Alban, France, might also belong into this group.
