Circaetus, the snake eagles, is a genus of medium-sized eagles in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. They are mainly resident African species, but the migratory short-toed snake eagle breeds from the Mediterranean basin into Russia, the Middle East and India, and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and east to Indonesia.
| Circaetus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Circaetinae |
| Genus: | Circaetus Vieillot, 1816 |
| Type species | |
| Falco gallicus Gmelin, 1788
| |
Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains arid savanna, but require trees in which to build a stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female.
Circaetus eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on reptiles, mainly snakes, but also take lizards and occasionally small mammals.
Taxonomy and species
editThe genus Circaetus was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, the short-toed snake eagle, which is therefore considered the type species.[1][2] The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle".[3] The genus contains six species.[4]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short-toed snake eagle
|
Circaetus gallicus (Gmelin, JF, 1788) Two subspecies
|
Mediterranean basin, into Russia and the Middle East, and parts of Asia
|
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Black-chested snake eagle
|
Circaetus pectoralis A. Smith, 1829 |
southern Africa from Ethiopia and Sudan in the north to South Africa in the south and Angola in the southwest | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Beaudouin's snake eagle
|
Circaetus beaudouini Verreaux & Des Murs, 1862 |
Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia through southern Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger, northern Nigeria and Cameroon, southern Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Brown snake eagle
|
Circaetus cinereus Vieillot, 1818 |
West, East and southern Africa | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
VU
|
| Southern banded snake eagle or fasciated snake eagle
|
Circaetus fasciolatus Kaup, 1847 |
eastern Sub-Saharan Africa. | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
| Western banded snake eagle
|
Circaetus cinerascens von Müller, 1851 |
Africa in the northern tropics from Senegal and Gambia east through to Ethiopia and then south to southern Angola and Zimbabwe | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC
|
Fossil record
editCircaetus rhodopensis (late Miocene of Bulgaria)[5]
Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)[6]
References
edit- ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 23.
- ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 309.
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2012. Circaetus rhodopensis sp. n. (Aves, Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (1): 5-12.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2015. An Early Pleistocene Snake-eagle (Circaetus haemusensis sp. n. - Aves, Accipitriformes) from Varshets (NW Bulgaria). – Acta zoologica bulgarica. 67 (1), 2015: 127-138.