Circaetus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Accipitriformes

Familia: Accipitridae
Subfamilia: Circaetinae
Genus: Circaetus
Species:

C. beaudouini - C. cinerascens - C. cinereus - C. fasciolatus - C. gallicus - C. pectoralis - C. spectabilis

Species extincta: C. rhodopensis
Name

Circaetus Vieillot, 1816
References
Primary references

Vieillot, L.P. 1816. Analyse d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire. 70 pp. Paris: Deterville. p. 23 BHL Reference page.

Additional references

Boev, Z. 2012. Circaetus rhodopensis sp. n. (Aves: Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 64 (1): 5–12.

Vernacular names
suomi: Käärmekotkat
français: Circaète
עברית: חיוויאי
日本語: チュウヒワシ属
lietuvių: Gyvatėdžiai
македонски: Орел-змијар

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.

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

The 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]

Genus Circaetus – Vieillot, 1816 – six species

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 C. g. gallicus - (Gmelin, JF, 1788) C. g. sacerdotis - Ng, N, Christidis, Olsen, Norman & Rheindt, 2017	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

Circaetus rhodopensis (late Miocene of Bulgaria)[5]

Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)[6]
References

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.