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Accipitrinae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

True hawk
Sharp-shinned hawk
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Subfamily: Accipitrinae
Genera

11 genera. See below.

Shikra Accipiter badius feeding on a garden lizard in Hyderabad, India.

The Accipitrinae are the subfamily of the Accipitridae often known as the "true" hawks. The subfamily contains 73 species that are divided into 11 genera. It includes the genus Accipiter which formerly included many more species. The large genus was found to be non-monophyletic and was split into several new or resurrected genera. The birds in this subfamily are primarily woodland birds that hunt by sudden dashes from a concealed perch, with long tails, broad wings and high visual acuity facilitating this lifestyle.

Hawks, including the accipitrines, are believed to have vision several times sharper than humans, in part because of the great number of photoreceptor cells in their retinas (up to 1,000,000 per square mm, against 200,000 for humans), a very high number of nerves connecting the receptors to the brain, and an indented fovea, which magnifies the central portion of the visual field.

A series of molecular phylogenetic studies found that the genus Accipiter was non-monophyletic.[1] The results of a densely sampled 2024 study of the Accipitridae allowed the generic boundaries to be redefined.[2] To create monophyletic genera, species were moved from Accipiter to five new or resurrected genera leaving only 9 species in Accipiter.[3] The southeast Asian crested goshawk and the Sulawesi goshawk were found to be only distantly related to other species in Accipiter. They were moved to a resurrected genus Lophospiza, the only genus placed in the new subfamily Lophospizinae. Similarly, the very small south America tiny hawk and semicollared hawk were found to be only distantly related to species in Accipiter. They were moved to a newly erected genus Microspizias which together with Harpagus is placed in the subfamily Harpaginae. The genera Circus, Megatriorchis, and Erythrotriorchis were found to be nested within Accipiter. Rather than subsuming these genera into an expanded Accipiter, species were moved from Accipiter to the resurrected genera Aerospiza, Tachyspiza and Astur.[3]

The genus level cladogram of the Accipitrinae shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the Accipitridae by Therese Catanach and collaborators that was published in 2024.[2] The number of species in each genus is based on the list maintained by Frank Gill, Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).[3]

Accipitrinae

Micronisus – gabar goshawk

Urotriorchis – long-tailed hawk

Melierax – chanting goshawks (3 species)

Kaupifalco – lizard buzzard

Aerospiza – sparrowhawk, goshawks (3 species, formerly in Accipiter)

Tachyspiza – goshawks, sparrowhawks (27 species, formerly in Accipiter)

Erythrotriorchis – goshawks (2 species)

Accipiter – hawks, sparrowhawks (9 species)

Astur – hawks, sparrowhawk, goshawks (9 species, formerly in Accipiter)

Megatriorchis – Doria's hawk

Circus – harriers (16 species)

Species

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The subfamily Accipitrinae contains 73 species that are arranged into 11 genera:[3]

Hawks and humans

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Hawks are sometimes used in falconry, a sport in which trained birds of prey are flown at small game for sport.

References

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  1. ^ Mindell, D.; Fuchs, J.; Johnson, J. (2018). "Phylogeny, taxonomy, and geographic diversity of diurnal raptors: Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, and Cathartiformes". In Sarasola, J.H.; Grange, J.M.; Negro, J.J. (eds.). Birds of Prey: Biology and conservation in the XXI century. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. pp. 3–32. ISBN 978-3-319-73744-7.
  2. ^ a b Catanach, T.A.; Halley, M.R.; Pirro, S. (2024). "Enigmas no longer: using ultraconserved elements to place several unusual hawk taxa and address the non-monophyly of the genus Accipiter (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae)". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society: blae028. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blae028.
  3. ^ a b c d Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
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