Cloud-forest Screech-Owl vs Coiban Mastuff Bat

Megascops marshalli compared with Molossus coibensis

Key Differences

• Cloud-forest Screech-Owl is Near Threatened while Coiban Mastuff Bat is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl	Coiban Mastuff Bat
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum same	Chordata (Chordates)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Aves (Birds)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Strigiformes (Owls)	Chiroptera (Bats)
Family	Strigidae (True Owls)	Molossidae
Genus	Megascops	Molossus
Species	Megascops marshalli	Molossus coibensis

Evolutionary Relationship

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl and Coiban Mastuff Bat share a common ancestor at the Phylum level: Chordata. (Chordates)

Conservation Status

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

NT — Near Threatened

Coiban Mastuff Bat

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cloud-forest Screech-Owl	Coiban Mastuff Bat
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

Habitat

Typically found in various aerial, terrestrial, and aquatic environments.

Range

Found in Norway. Listed as Near Threatened, this species requires ongoing monitoring to prevent population decline.

Coiban Mastuff Bat

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Range

Distributed across Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.

Cloud-forest Screech-Owl

The cloud forest screech-owl (Megascops marshalli) is a small owl in the family Strigidae endemic to the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia, inhabiting cloud forest and humid montane woodland between approximately 900 and 2,200 meters elevation. Described scientifically in 1981, it belongs to the diverse Megascops screech-owl assemblage of the Americas. The species has brown, streaked cryptic plumage and small ear tufts typical of screech-owls, with a characteristic song used for territory advertisement in cloud forest habitats. It is nocturnal and insectivorous, feeding on large insects, small lizards, and other invertebrates caught in the forest understory. The cloud forest screech-owl has a restricted range on the humid eastern Andean slopes, where increasing deforestation for agriculture and coca cultivation reduces suitable habitat. Its population status is considered Least Concern given the continuing extent of Andean cloud forest in its range, though forest clearance on the eastern Andean slopes remains a long-term threat to this and many other narrowly endemic cloud forest bird species.

Coiban Mastuff Bat

The Coiban Mastuff Bat (Molossus coibensis) is a small free-tailed bat in the family Molossidae, named for Coiba Island off the Pacific coast of Panama, where specimens were first collected. Members of the genus Molossus are robust, fast-flying insectivores adapted to open-air foraging above the forest canopy and over water, characterised by narrow wings and a tail that extends beyond the patagium (wing membrane). Molossus coibensis inhabits lowland tropical forests and adjacent open habitats in Central America and northwestern South America, with confirmed records from Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama, indicating a distributional range that extends well beyond its type locality on Coiba Island. Like other mastiff bats, it roosts in crevices within buildings, rock faces, and hollow trees, emerging at dusk to pursue aerial insects at speed. The species feeds primarily on large beetles, moths, and other night-flying insects, typically hunted high above the forest. It is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN based on its relatively wide range and tolerance of modified habitats. Molossus coibensis was long treated as a subspecies of Molossus molossus before being recognised as a distinct species based on morphological and molecular evidence. Ecological and life-history data specific to this taxon remain limited.