Eurasian eagle-owl
The pharaoh eagle-owl, distributed in the Arabian Peninsula and sections of the Sahara Desert through North Africa where rocky outcrops are found, was until recently considered a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl. The pharaoh eagle-owl apparently differs about 3.8% in mitochondrial DNA from the Eurasian eagle-owl, well past the minimum genetic difference to differentiate species of 1.5%. Smaller and paler than Eurasian eagle-owls, the pharaoh eagle-owl can also be considered a distinct species largely due to its higher-pitched and more descending call, and the observation that Eurasian eagle-owls formerly found in Morocco ("B. b. hispanus") apparently did not breed with the co-existing pharaoh eagle-owls. On the contrary, the race still found together with the pharaoh eagle-owl in the wild ("B. b. interpositus") in the central Middle East has been found to interbreed in the wild with the pharaoh eagle-owl, although genetical materials have indicated "B. b. interpositus" may itself be a distinct species from the Eurasian eagle-owl, as it differs from the nominate subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl by 2.8% in mitochondrial DNA. The Indian eagle-owl ("B. bengalensis") was also considered a subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl until recently, but its smaller size, distinct voice (more clipped and high-pitched than the Eurasian), and the fact that it is largely allopatric in distribution (filling out the Indian subcontinent) with other Eurasian eagle-owl races has led to it being considered a distinct species. The mitochondrial DNA of the Indian species also appears considerably distinct from the Eurasian species. The Cape eagle-owl ("B. capensis") appears to represent a return of this genetic line back into the African continent, where it leads a lifestyle similar to Eurasian eagle-owls, albeit far to the south. Another offshoot of the northern "Bubo" group is the snowy owl. It appears to have separated from other "Bubo" species at least 4 million years ago.