The Key to Scientific Names
- athene
Gr. myth. Athene, goddess of wisdom, war and the liberal arts, whose favourite bird was the owl (γλαυξ glaux), an ancient association from her primitive role as goddess of the night (cf. genus Athene Boie, 1822, owl) (syn. Athene noctua).
- ATHENE
(Strigidae; † Little Owl A. noctua) Gr. myth. Athene, goddess of wisdom, war and the liberal arts, whose favourite bird was the owl (γλαυξ glaux), an ancient association from her primitive role as goddess of the night; the Little Owl is depicted on ancient Athenian coins, and still features on the badge of that city; “According to Graf von der Mühle, this Owl is the true ‘bird of Minerva’ of the old Greeks, and at the present time is very common throughout Greece, where the inhabitants protect it … This gave rise to the old Greek adage—when speaking of an unnecessary or superfluous act,—that it was “bringing owls to Athens.” This in later days has been anglicised, and we read of men advised “not to carry coals to Newcastle” (Kaup, 1859, Trans. Zool. Soc. London, IV, (Monogr. Strigidae), pp. 209-210); "3. Familie. Tageulen, Surnia. ... 17. Gattung. Athene. 32. passerina. 33. Tengmalmi. 34. acadica." (Boie 1822); "Athene Boie, Isis von Oken, 1822, Bd. 1, col. 549. Type, by subsequent designation, A. noctua (Retz.) Boie, Pl. enl. 439. Str. passerina Auct. = Strix noctua Scopoli. (G. R. Gray, List Gen. Bds., ed. 2, 1841, p. 7.)" (Peters, 1940, IV, p. 147).
Var. Althene, Athelle.
Synon. Carine, Cunistrix, Glaux, Heteroglaux, Noctua, Nyctipetes, Pholeoptynx, Speotyto.
● (Strigidae; syn. Gymnasio † Puerto Rican Owl G. nudipes) "IV. Fam. Strigidae ... Athene: St. nudipes Daud. u.s.w." (Boie 1826); "Athene Boie, 1826, Isis von Oken, XIX (x), col. 976 (= 970) (not of Boie, 1822). Type, by monotypy, Strix nudipes Daudin, 1800." (JAJ 2020).
Var. Athena.- MICRATHENE
(Strigidae; † Elf Owl M. whitneyi) Gr. μικρος mikros little; genus Athene Boie, 1822, owl; "MICRATHENE Coues, nov. gen. ... Of small size, being among the most diminutive of known Owls. TYPE. Athene Whitneyi, Cooper. With the size and general aspect of Glaucidium, this genus differs greatly from it as follows: The bill is smaller, weaker, less strongly hooked and dentulated. The wings are much longer, and the tail much shorter. The tarsus is unfeathered except for a short space superiorly. The claws are so small and weak as to be hardly more than insessorial rather than raptorial in character. The proportions of the tarsus and toes differ decidedly. Nor has it much in common with Athene, except the partially denuded tarsi; the relative proportions of the tarsus and toes to each other being quite different in the two genera; Athene having the middle toe and claw about two thirds the tarsus, instead of fully as long. The claws of Athene are very long, acute and little curved. While both genera are very long winged, there is a decided difference in the shape of the wing; that of Athene being much the most pointed, in consequence of the greater elongation of the first and second primaries. I think it more than probable that Micrathene is a truly arboreal genus, like Glaucidium, thus differing radically in its habits from the species of Athene." (Coues 1866); "Micrathene Coues, 1866, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 18: 51. Type, by original designation, Athene whitneyi Cooper." (AOU Checklist, 7th ed., 1998, p. 261).
Var. Microthene.
Synon. Micropallas.
