Circaetinae
Subfamily of birds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Circaetinae is a subfamily of the family Accipitridae which contains a group of medium to large broad-winged birds of prey.[1][2] The group is sometimes treated as tribe Circaetini.[3][4] These birds mainly specialise in feeding on snakes and other reptiles, which is the reason most are referred to as "snake-eagles" or "serpent-eagles". The exceptions are the bateleur, a more generalised hunter, and the Philippine eagle, which preys on mammals and birds.
| Snake eagles | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Philippine eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Circaetinae Blyth, 1851 |
| Type genus | |
| Circaetus Vieillot, 1816 | |
| Genera | |
|
See text. | |
All but one of the subfamily are restricted to warmer parts of the Old World: Spilornis and Pithecophaga in south Asia, the others in Africa. The short-toed eagle Circaetus gallicus migrates between temperate Eurasia and Africa, as well as being resident in India.
They have hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs and powerful talons. They also have extremely keen eyesight to enable them to spot potential prey from a distance.
Taxonomy
The subfamily Circaetinae was introduced in 1851 by the English zoologist Edward Blyth with Circaetus as the type genus.[5][6]
The genus level cladogram of the Circaetinae shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the Accipitridae by Therese Catanach and collaborators that was published in 2024.[7]
| Circaetinae |
| ||||||||||||||||||
The following taxonomy is based on the International Ornithological Congress.[8]
| Image | Genus | Living species |
|---|---|---|
 |
Spilornis G.R. Gray, 1840 |
|
 |
Pithecophaga Ogilvie-Grant, 1896 |
|
.jpg) | Circaetus Vieillot, 1816 |
|
.jpg) |
Terathopius Lesson, 1830 |
|
 | Eutriorchis Sharpe, 1875[note 1] |
|
Notes
- Eutriorchis is genetically related to Gypaetus, and so might be classified with the Gypaetinae rather than Circaetinae. Lerner, Heather R. L.; Mindell, David P. (9 May 2006). "Accipitridae". The Tree of Life Web Project.
