Hieraaetus

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Hawk-eagles
Little Eagle.jpg
Little eagle (Hieraaetus morphnoides)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Aves
Order:
Accipitriformes
Family:
Accipitridae
Genus:
Hieraaetus

Kaup, 1844
Species

See text

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The genus Hieraaetus, sometimes known as hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the Buteoninae[1] or Aquilinae[2] subfamilies of accipitrids.

They are medium-sized birds of prey inhabiting Europe, Asia, Africa, New Guinea and Australia.

Species

Former species

Some authorities retain Bonelli's eagle and the African hawk-eagle in Hieraaetus. Also, some retain Wahlberg's eagle in Aquila, whilst still recognizing Hieraaetus as a separate genus.

Taxonomy and systematics

Molecular genetic research has found Hieraaetus to be polyphyletic with Aquila.[note 1][note 2][note 3]

The British Ornithological Union moved Bonelli's and booted eagles to Aquila in 2005, but was silent on the position of the non-European Ayres', little, and pygmy eagles.[5]

This could create a taxonomic problem: the booted eagle is the type species of Hieraaetus, moving it would make that name a junior synonym of Aquila. Consequently, should any other hawk-eagles be retained as a distinct group, they would need to get a different genus name.

Sometimes the entire genus is merged into Aquila. This was the approach taken with The Clements Checklist between 2001 and 2009: starting in the 2001 revisions to the 5th edition,[6] and retained in the printed 6th edition of 2007.[7]

Christidis and Boles (2008) used an alternative approach. Accepting that both Aquila and Hieraaetus are polyphyletic, they moved spilogaster and fasciatus with the Aquila genus and retained the other former Hieraaetus group along with morphnoides and Aquila wahlbergi within the new delimitation of Hieraaetus.[8]

The Clements Checklist, in its 2009 revisions, followed the same approach as Christidis & Boles, moving Aquila wahlbergi into Hieraaetus; restoring the booted, little and Ayres' eagles back to Hieraaetus.[9]

As of 2014, the BOU lists the booted eagle on their Category D and E lists as H. pennatus, not A. pennata.[10]

The pygmy eagle, or New Guinea hawk-eagle, H. morphnoides weiskei was formerly considered a subspecies of the little eagle H. morphnoides; it has been recognized as a separate species by some authorities.[11]

Whether the fossil "Hieraaetus" edwardsi (Middle -? Late Miocene of SW Europe) belongs to the hawk-eagles proper (if there is such a thing) or into Aquila has not been determined.

Hieraaetus kienerii was found to be distinct,[2][12] and has been assigned to a separate genus, Lophotriorchis.[9][13]

DNA sequences from remains of the extinct giant eagle Harpagornis moorei (Haast's eagle) were found to be similar to those of the little eagle, suggesting that Haast's eagle also belongs in Hieraeetus.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Lerner & Mindell (2005)[2] found three clades containing a mixture of Aquila and Hieraaetus:
    • A. chrysaetos, Spizaetus africanus, H. fasciatus, A. verrauxii, A. audax, A. gurneyi
    • A. nipalensis, A. rapax, A. heliaca.
    • A. wahlbergi, H. ayersii, H. morphnoides (H. m. morphnoides), H. weiskei (H. m. weiskei), H. pennatus.
  2. ↑ Helbig et al. (2004)[3] concluded that "Hieraaetus fasciatus/spilogaster are closest to Aquila verreauxii and should be merged with that genus. Wahlberg’s eagle H. wahlbergi, formerly placed in Aquila, is part of a clade including three small Hieraaetus species (pennatus, ayresii, and morphnoides)."
  3. ↑ Wink & Sauer-Gürth (2004),[4] comparing sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, also found several clades within the booted eagles that did not correspond to the existing genera:
    • A. adalberti, A. heliaca, A. rapax, A. nipalensis
    • A. audax, H. spilogaster, H. fasciatus, A. verrauxii, A. chrysaetos, A. ch. daphanea
    • A. wahlbergi, H. pennatus, H. morphnoides
    • A. clanga, A. pomarina, Lophoaetus occipitalis
    But they commented: "Because Hieraaetus has been classified as a member of the genus Aquila before, the molecular data would support merging Hieraaetus with Aquila.

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Digitized copy
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. proof
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. PDF alternate location
  5. ↑ Recommended in
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    Also summarized in
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (See also similar pages for the other species.)
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Les Christidis & Walter E Boles (2008) Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO publishing. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Jan Ove Gjershaug (2006) Taxonomy and conservation status of hawk-eagles (genus Nisaetus) in South-East Asia. Thesis. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Fulltext
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. PDF alternate location "Despite the fact that its sister group has not been identified so far, it is advisable to separate it from the genus Hieraaetus and treat it as a different genus. ... Therefore, we propose to give the monotypic species Hieraaetus kienerii the resurrected name Lophotriorchis Sharpe, 1874."
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  • Helbig AJ, Kocum A, Seibold I & Braun MJ (2005) A multi-gene phylogeny of aquiline eagles (Aves: Accipitriformes) reveals extensive paraphyly at the genus level. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 35(1):147-164 PDF
  • W. T. Blanford (1894) On the Scientific Names of the Imperial and Spotted Eagles and on the Generic Names of Bonelli's Eagle and the Black Eagle. Ibis 36(2):283-289 doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1894.tb07754.x
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