The ferruginous pygmy owl (Glaucidium brasilianum) is a small owl that breeds in south-central Arizona and southern Texas in the United States, south through Mexico and Central America, to South America into Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina. In Central America and South America, it is the most widely distributed pygmy owl and is probably one of the most numerous owl species in those areas. It is found in a wide range of semi-open wooded habitats. Taxonomy The ferruginous pygmy owl was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other owls in the genus Strix and coined the binomial name Strix brasiliana. Although not cited directly, Gmelin's description was ultimately based on the "Cabure" that had been described in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. The ferruginous pygmy owl is now placed with 28 other small owls in the genus Glaucidium that was introduced in 1826 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name is from Ancient Greek glaukidion meaning "little owl" or "owlet". It is diminutive of glaux meaning "owl". Thirteen subspecies are recognised: G. b. cactorum Van Rossem, 1937 – south Arizona (USA) to Sonora to north Nayarit (west Mexico) G. b. intermedium Phillips, AR, 1966 – south Nayarit to Oaxaca (west Mexico) G. b. ridgwayi Sharpe, 1875 – south Texas (central south USA) to west Panama G. b. medianum Todd, 1916 – north Colombia G. b. margaritae Phelps, WH & Phelps, WH Jr, 1951 – Margarita Island (off Venezuela) G. b. phaloenoides (Daudin, 1800) – north, east Venezuela, Trinidad and the Guianas G. b. duidae Chapman, 1929 – Cerro Duida (south Venezuela) G. b. olivaceum Chapman, 1939 – Auyán Tepui (southeast Venezuela) G. b. ucayalae Chapman, 1929 – Amazonia G. b. brasilianum (Gmelin, JF, 1788) – east Brazil to northeast Argentina G. b. pallens Brodkorb, 1938 – east Bolivia, west Paraguay and north Argentina G. b. stranecki König, C & Wink, 1995 – central Argentina to south Uruguay G. b. tucumanum Chapman, 1922 – west Argentina Trinidad, as well as other localities, have endemic subspecies of the Glaucidium brasilianum owl. Recent genetics work has found substantial differences in ferruginous pygmy owls from different regions and members of the northern ridgwayi group are sometimes considered a separate species, Ridgway's pygmy-owl (Glaucidium