While linear dimensions suggest that spot-bellied eagle-owls in Malay Peninsula would be nearly twice the size of barred eagle-owls (of the relatively small nominate subspecies) found no more than 100 kilometers to the south, the larger barred eagle-owl subspecies (B. sumatranus strepitans) found on Java and Bali is roughly equal in body size to the small island race of spot-bellied eagle-owl (B. nipalensis blighti) found far to the west on Sri Lanka.