Circaetus
| Circaetus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Circaetinae |
| Genus: | Circaetus Vieillot, 1816 |
| Type species | |
| Falco gallicus Gmelin, 1788
| |
Circaetus, the snake eagles, is a genus of medium-sized eagles in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. They are mainly resident African species, but the migratory short-toed snake eagle breeds from the Mediterranean basin into Russia, the Middle East and India, and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and east to Indonesia.
Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains arid savanna, but require trees in which to build a stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female.
Circaetus eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on reptiles, mainly snakes, but also take lizards and occasionally small mammals.
Taxonomy and species
[edit]The genus Circaetus was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, the short-toed snake eagle, which is therefore considered the type species.[1][2] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle".[3] The genus contains six species.[4]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-toed snake eagle
|
Circaetus gallicus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) Two subspecies
|
Mediterranean basin, into Russia and the Middle East, and parts of Asia
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Black-chested snake eagle
|
Circaetus pectoralis A. Smith, 1829 |
southern Africa from Ethiopia and Sudan in the north to South Africa in the south and Angola in the southwest | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Beaudouin's snake eagle
|
Circaetus beaudouini Verreaux & Des Murs, 1862 |
Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia through southern Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger, northern Nigeria and Cameroon, southern Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Brown snake eagle
|
Circaetus cinereus Vieillot, 1818 |
West, East and southern Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
VU
|
| Southern banded snake eagle or fasciated snake eagle
|
Circaetus fasciolatus Kaup, 1847 |
eastern Sub-Saharan Africa. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Western banded snake eagle
|
Circaetus cinerascens von Müller, 1851 |
Africa in the northern tropics from Senegal and Gambia east through to Ethiopia and then south to southern Angola and Zimbabwe | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Fossil record
[edit]Circaetus rhodopensis (late Miocene of Bulgaria)[5]
Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 23.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 309.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2012. Circaetus rhodopensis sp. n. (Aves, Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (1): 5-12.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2015. An Early Pleistocene Snake-eagle (Circaetus haemusensis sp. n. - Aves, Accipitriformes) from Varshets (NW Bulgaria). – Acta zoologica bulgarica. 67 (1), 2015: 127-138.
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