This species was known for over a century by the scientific name
Strix butleri, but a 2015 study demonstrated that the
holotype of
S. butleri was not actually a member of this species, but was instead most likely an
Omani owl (which had been described as a new species,
S. omanensis, in 2013). Because the allocation of
Strix butleri to the Omani owl left the more widespread species without a name, the authors of the study named it
S. hadorami after Israeli ornithologist
Hadoram Shirihai, and gave it the new common name desert tawny owl (which has been subsequently shortened to desert owl by some authors). ==See also==