Coragyps
Genus of New World vulture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coragyps is a genus of New World vulture that contains the black vulture (Coragyps atratus) and two extinct relatives.
| Coragyps | |
|---|---|
| Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Cathartidae |
| Genus: | Coragyps Le Maout, 1853 |
| Type species | |
| Vultur atratus Bechstein, 1793 | |
| Species | |
Taxonomy
The genus Coragyps was introduced in 1853 by the French naturalist Emmanuel Le Maout to accommodate the black vulture.[1][2]
Etymology
The name combines the Ancient Greek korax meaning "raven" with gups meaning "vulture".[3]
Fossil record
One extinct species is the 'western' black vulture, Coragyps occidentalis, a larger ancestral relative of the modern species which lived in North America during much of the Pleistocene epoch; however, genetic evidence indicates that C. occidentalis may not be a true species of its own, as it is nested within the modern black vulture.[4][5][6] The other is the Cuban black vulture, Coragyps seductus, known from the Pleistocene of Cuba.[7]