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Systematics
Monotypic. No designated subspecies, probably because of nomadic habits and dispersal over broad areas (see Demography and Populations: range).
Formerly in genus Nyctea, based on plumage, weak osteological (skull) characters (Ford 1967), and DNA (Sibley and Ahlquist 1990). Now, on the basis of new genetic evidence (Wink and Heidrich 1999), considered closely related to Bubo and nested in that genus (Banks et al. 2003).
Parmelee, David F. 1992. Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/010
