Accipitrimorphae

The 44 Orders

Paleognaths

Galloanserae

Metaves

Pelecanae

Charadriae

Passerae

PASSERAE

The third part of Coronaves consists of land birds, Passerae. Hackett et al. (2008) and Ericson et al. (2006a) both found the hawks and American vultures to be closer to the ‘Anomalogonatae’ than to the falcons. Other papers (e.g., Morgan-Richards et al., 2008) put all of them somewhere between the Pelecanae and the passerines. The order here follows Hackett et al., even though considerable uncertainty remains.

Those interested in ancient raptors should read Darren Naish's post on Titan-Hawks.

ACCIPITRIMORPHAE

CATHARTIFORMES

Cathartidae: New World Vultures

5 genera, 7 species HBW-2

ACCIPITRIFORMES

The Secretarybird goes first, then the Osprey. After that, come the very messy Accipitridae.

Sagittariidae: Secretarybird

1 genus, 1 species HBW-2

Pandionidae: Osprey

1 genus, 1 species HBW-2

Accipitridae: Hawks, Kites, Eagles

69 genera, 246 species HBW-2

Accipitriformes tree
Click for genus-level tree of Accipitriformes

The ordering presented here attempts to synthesize the papers by Amaral et al. (2006, 2009), Griffiths et al. (2007), Haring et al. (2007), Helbig et al. (2005), Lerner and Mindell (2005), Lerner et al. (2008), and Riesing et al. (2003). Some of the genera were restructured based on the papers. There might still be some issues with some of the genera as well as species limits.

The Accipitridae are a complicated family. You can see from the diagram that they consist of a grade of subfamilies with Buteoninae and Accipitrinae at the end. Accipitrinae is slightly larger, so I put it last in the list. Harpaginae is sister to the two of them, with Aquilinae sister to the rest, and likewise for Harpiinae above it. The closest relatives of this big clade are Circaetinae and Gypinae. All together are sister to Gypaetinae, and the whole shebang is sister to Elaninae. This is all summed up in the diagram.

The arrangment of species within Gyps follows Arshad et al. (2009). I follow Lerner et al. (2005) for the genera as it had higher support values. Arshad et al. is almost the same, while Griffiths et al. (2009) is broadly consistent but less well-resolved.

The Honey-Buzzards (Pernis) have been sorted out by Gamauf and Haring (2004), including the recently-split Phillipine Honey-Buzzard. The Old World Vultures fall into two clades. The first four species are in one, with Necrosyrtes and Gyps in the other. In the Serpent-Eagles, Dryotriorchis has been merged into Circaetus. Exactly how many species are in Spilornis remains an issue. There are six here, but Ferguson-Lees and Christie (2001) list 13! I've not accepted the IOC split of minimus because I don't see any evidence to split this and not the others.

The key papers for the Booted Eagles (Aquilinae) are Helbig et al. (2005), Lerner and Mindell (2005), and Haring et al. (2007). Aquilinae tree The Spizaetus Hawk-Eagles belong in two different clades within Aquilinae. Thus Spizaetus is divided into Nisaetus and Spizaetus. The Black-and-chestnut Eagle (Oroaetus) must be merged into the remaining Spizaetus. The Rufous-bellied Hawk-Eagle (Lophotriorchis) is separated from Hieraaetus, while Ictinaetus gains Lophaetus and some of the Aquila eagles. Hieraaetus loses a couple of species to Aquila, which also gains Cassin's Hawk-Eagle from Spizaetus.

The position of the two Harpagus kites is somewhat unclear and I have placed them in a separate subfamily. Griffiths et al. (2007) are the only ones to include them in their analysis. They have Harpagus basal to Accipitrinae + Buteoninae. However, they have some other, more basal genera (Kaupifalco and Melierax), that Lerner et al. (2008) put in Accipitrinae (which I follow).

Many of the changes between versions 2.00 and 2.01 of this page were due to the publication of Lerner et al. (2008). Their results have recently been refined by Amaral et al. (2009). Between Amaral et al. (2009), Lerner et al. (2008), and Riesing et al. (2003), I think the Buteoninae are now in pretty good shape even at the species level (the Accipitrinae are another matter entirely!). There might still be a little modification of species boundaries to go, particularly in Pseudastur and near Buteo buteo. I've modified the generic limits quite a bit in Buteoninae, but less drastically than suggested by Riesing et al. (2003) and by Lerner et al. (2008). Most of these changes were also adopted by Amaral et al. (2009), which has prompted some further changes in version 2.15.

Buteoninae tree Beginning at the top, Ichthyophaga turned out to be nested within Haliaeetus, so it is now submerged in Haliaeetus. This brings all of the fish-eagles and sea-eagles into one genus. The next few genera are left alone, but it might make sense to put the last three together as Rostrhamus. There are big changes for Buteogallus. It is closely related to Harpyhaliaetus and three of the Leucopternis hawks. Prior to version 2.15, I was rolling them all into Buteogallus. However, I'm now following the recommendations of Amaral et al. (2009), who create two new genera and also slightly adjust the taxonomy. This splits the combined group into five genera. The new genus Cryptoleucopteryx applies to the Plumbeous Hawk (formerly in Leucopternis). Buteogallus applies to three of the old Buteogallus plus Slate-colored Hawk (from Leucopternis), The Savanna Hawk returns to Heteropsizias. It's sister to the White-necked Hawk, now in the new genus Amadonastur (from Leucopternis). Finally, the Great Black-Hawk and the two Harpyhaliaetus eagles go into Urubitinga.

This brings us to point B, one place where Lerner et al. suggest the rest be considered Buteo. I think this idea hides more taxonomy than it reveals and prefer a somewhat different arrangement. As it happens, Amaral et al. (2009) came to similar conclusions. Morphnarchus is another Leucopternis refugee, while the Roadside Hawk (Rupornis) is sometimes considered part of Buteo. The same is true of the White-rumped Hawk, which has joined Harris's Hawk in Parabueto.

The clade starting at A is also flagged by Lerner et al. as a good starting point for Buteo. The former Leucopternis, White, Gray-backed, and Mantled Hawks are placed in Pseudastur while the some of the remaining Leucopternis are put in Geranoaetus. This includes the White-tailed, and Variable (sometimes split as Red-backed and Puna) Hawks, formerly in Buteo. It should be noted that the species boundaries in Pseudastur seriously need adjustment, but it seems that further study will be needed to clarify the situation.

Although there is some evidence for combining Gray Hawk with a truncated Leucopternis, Amaral et al. (2009) find it sister to Buteo. However, the support for this is not that great, and I prefer to restore it to Asturina to remind us that it may not belong in Buteo.

As defined below, Buteo consists primarily of species breeding in the Old World and Nearctic. The other genera that might be included in Buteo — Asturina, Leucopternis, Pseudastur, Geranoaetus (point A), Parabuteo, Rupornis, and Morphnarchus (point B) — are primarily South and Middle American breeders.

Amaral et al. (2009) help clear up the situation with the remaining Buteo species, although some issues remain. The New World species split out nicely, up to the lagopus/regalis pair. Then we get into the Old World buteos, whose taxonomy remains somewhat murky. Two species were not considered in their analysis, and the true species boundaries among the Old World buteos remain somewhat uncertain.

Since there are slightly more Accipitrinae than Buteoninae, I put them last. There are no comprehensive genetic studies of the Accipitrinae. They include the Lizard Buzzard and chanting goshawks (Griffiths et al., 2007; Lerner et al., 2008). I would not be surprised to find that the Harpagus kites belong here too. The same two papers also found that the harriers (Circus) are embedded in Accipiter. It remains to be seen how to best handle that situation. Do we split Accipiter into two or more genera, or merge Circus into Accipiter? The issue could even disappear with denser taxon sampling. The sequence within the harriers is based on Simmons (2000).

This list includes three relatives of the Sharp-shinned Hawk that SACC has not split (although they are split in the Sibley-Monore list). Data is lacking for either position, but the general opinion seems to be that they are good species.

Elaninae: Elanine Kites

Gypaetinae: Bazas, Honey-Buzzards

Gypinae: Old World Vultures

Circaetinae: Serpent-Eagles

Harpiinae: Harpy Eagles

Aquilinae: Booted Eagles

Harpaginae

Buteoninae: Buteos

Accipitrinae: Accipiters, Harriers

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