色。成员物种广布于各大洲，除澳洲、南极洲及漠南非洲之外。该属学名「"Athene"」命名自希腊女神雅典娜（Athena），盖因该属的纵纹腹小鸮的形象常出现于雅典娜身边。
灭绝物种.A number of mainlyislandrepresentatives of this genus are only known from fossil or subfossil remains:The Cretan owl was a flightless or near-fli