Hieraaetus

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
Ordo: 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: Aquilinae
Genus: Hieraaetus
Species: H. ayresii - H. morphnoides - H. pennatus - H. wahlbergi - H. weiskei

Species extincta: †H. moorei

Name

Hieraaetus Kaup, 1844
Typus

Aquila pennata, = Falco pennatus Gmelin, 1788, = Hieraaetus pennatus

References

Classification der Säugethiere und Vögel: 120.

Vernacular names
ak: Akroma
azərbaycanca: Qartalça
български: Ястребови орли
Deutsch: Habichtsadler
English: Hawk-eagles
فارسی: بازعقاب‌ها
suomi: Pikkukotkat
עברית: עיט קטן
latviešu: Vanagērgļi

The genus Hieraaetus, sometimes known as small eagles or hawk-eagles, denotes a group of smallish eagles usually placed in the accipitrid subfamilies Buteoninae[1] or Aquilinae.[2]

They are generally medium-sized birds of prey inhabiting Europe, Asia, Africa, New Guinea and Australia. However, a recently extinct species, the New Zealand Haast's eagle, was the largest eagle ever known, weighing up to 17 kg (37 lb), with a 3 m (9.8 ft) wingspan.[3]
Taxonomy and species

The genus Hieraaetus was introduced in 1844 by the German naturalist Johann Jakob Kaup with the booted eagle as the type species.[4][5] The name combines the Ancient Greek hierax meaning "hawk" with aetos meaning "eagle".[6]

Molecular genetic research has found Hieraaetus to be polyphyletic with Aquila.[note 1][note 2][note 3]

Hieraaetus kienerii was found to be most distinct,[2][9] and has been assigned to a separate genus, Lophotriorchis.[10][11]

After DNA sequences from remains of the extinct giant Haast's eagle were found to be similar to those of the little eagle,[12] it has been reclassified from Harpagornis moorei to the genus Hieraeetus.[3]

The British Ornithological Union moved Bonelli's and booted eagles to Aquila in 2005, but was silent on the position of the non-European Ayres', little, and pygmy eagles.[13]

This could create a taxonomic problem: the booted eagle is the type species of Hieraaetus, moving it would make that name a junior synonym of Aquila. Consequently, should any other hawk-eagles be retained as a distinct group, they would need to get a different genus name. As of 2014, the BOU lists the booted eagle on their Category D and E lists as H. pennatus, not A. pennata.[14]

Christidis and Boles (2008) used an alternative approach. Accepting that both Aquila and Hieraaetus are polyphyletic, they moved spilogaster and fasciatus to the genus Aquila and retained the other former Hieraaetus group along with morphnoides and Aquila wahlbergi within the new delimitation of Hieraaetus.[15]

Sometimes the entire genus is merged into Aquila. This was the approach taken with The Clements Checklist between 2001 and 2009: starting in the 2001 revisions to the 5th edition,[16] and retained in the printed 6th edition of 2007.[17]

The Clements Checklist, in its 2009 revisions, followed the same approach as Christidis & Boles, moving Aquila wahlbergi into Hieraaetus; restoring the booted, little and Ayres' eagles back to Hieraaetus.[10]

The pygmy eagle, or New Guinea hawk-eagle, H. morphnoides weiskei was formerly considered a subspecies of the little eagle H. morphnoides; it has been recognized as a separate species by some authorities.[18]

The genus contains five species.[19]
Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
Hieraaetus wahlbergi Wahlberg's eagle Africa
Hieraaetus ayresii Ayres's hawk-eagle Africa
Hieraaetus pennatus Booted eagle Eurasia and Africa
Hieraaetus weiskei Pygmy eagle New Guinea
Hieraaetus morphnoides Little eagle Australia
Extinct species
Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
†Hieraaetus moorei Haast's eagle New Zealand, extinct
Former species
Image Scientific name Common Name Distribution
Aquila spilogaster
(formerly H. fasciatus spilogaster
or A. fasciatus spilogaster) African hawk-eagle Sub-Saharan Africa
excluding rainforests
Aquila fasciata
(formerly H. fasciatus) Bonelli's eagle Mediterranean
and southern Asia
Lophotriorchis kienerii
(formerly H. kienerii) Rufous-bellied eagle Asia

Some authorities retain Bonelli's eagle and the African hawk-eagle in Hieraaetus. Also, some retain Wahlberg's eagle in Aquila, whilst still recognizing Hieraaetus as a separate genus.
Notes

Lerner & Mindell (2005)[2] found three clades containing a mixture of Aquila and Hieraaetus:

A. chrysaetos, Spizaetus africanus, H. fasciatus, A. verrauxii, A. audax, A. gurneyi
A. nipalensis, A. rapax, A. heliaca.
A. wahlbergi, H. ayersii, H. morphnoides (H. m. morphnoides), H. weiskei (H. m. weiskei), H. pennatus.

Helbig et al. (2004)[7] concluded that "Hieraaetus fasciatus/spilogaster are closest to Aquila verreauxii and should be merged with that genus. Wahlberg’s eagle H. wahlbergi, formerly placed in Aquila, is part of a clade including three small Hieraaetus species (pennatus, ayresii, and morphnoides)."

Wink & Sauer-Gürth (2004),[8] comparing sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, also found several clades within the booted eagles that did not correspond to the existing genera:
A. adalberti, A. heliaca, A. rapax, A. nipalensis
A. audax, H. spilogaster, H. fasciatus, A. verrauxii, A. chrysaetos, A. ch. daphanea
A. wahlbergi, H. pennatus, H. morphnoides
A. clanga, A. pomarina, Lophoaetus occipitalis
But they commented: "Because Hieraaetus has been classified as a member of the genus Aquila before, the molecular data would support merging Hieraaetus with Aquila.

References

Peters, James Lee (1931). Check-list of birds of the world: volume 1. Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.: Harvard University Press. Digitized copy
Lerner, H. R. L.; Mindell, D. P. (2005). "Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 37 (2): 327–346. Bibcode:2005MolPE..37..327L. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010. PMID 15925523. proof
Evans, Kate (November 2018). "Return of the Lost Birds". New Zealand Geographic (154): 30. ISSN 0113-9967.
Kaup, Johann Jakob (1844). Classification der Saugethiere und Vogel (in German). Darmstadt: Carl Wilhelm Leske. p. 120.
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. 383.
Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
Helbig, Andreas J.; Kocum, Annett; Seibold, Ingrid; Braun, Michael J. (2004). "A multi-gene phylogeny of aquiline eagles (Aves: Accipitriformes) reveals extensive paraphyly at the genus level". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 35 (1): 147–164. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.10.003. PMID 15737588. Smithsonian
Wink, Michael; Sauer-Gürth, Heidi (2004). "Phylogenetic relationships in diurnal raptors based on nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear marker genes". In Chancellor, R. D.; Meyburg, B.-U. (eds.). Raptors Worldwide. WWGBP/MME. pp. 483–498. PDF alternate location
Jan Ove Gjershaug (2006) Taxonomy and conservation status of hawk-eagles (genus Nisaetus) in South-East Asia. Thesis. Norwegian University of Science and Technology Fulltext
The Clements Checklist team (23 December 2009). "Updates & Corrections – December 2009". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 21 June 2014. "Pages 47-48, Wahlberg's Eagle Aquila wahlbergi, Booted Eagle Aquila pennata, Little Eagle Aquila morphnoides, Ayres's Hawk-Eagle Aquila ayresii. All of these eagles belong in the genus Hieraaetus ... Rufous-bellied Eagle Aquila kienerii This species is not a member of the genus Aquila; it should be placed in the monotypic genus Lophotriorchis"
Haring, E.; Kvaløy, K.; Gjershaug, J.-O.; Røv, N.; Gamauf, A. (2007). "Convergent evolution and paraphyly of the hawk-eagles of the genus Spizaetus (Aves, Accipitridae) – phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial markers". Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research. 45 (4): 353–365. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0469.2007.00410.x. PDF alternate location "Despite the fact that its sister group has not been identified so far, it is advisable to separate it from the genus Hieraaetus and treat it as a different genus. ... Therefore, we propose to give the monotypic species Hieraaetus kienerii the resurrected name Lophotriorchis Sharpe, 1874."
Bunce, M.; Szulkin, M; Lerner, HRL; Barnes, I; Shapiro, B; et al. (2005). "Ancient DNA provides new insights into the evolutionary history of New Zealand's extinct giant eagle". PLOS Biol. 3 (1): e9. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0030009. PMC 539324. PMID 15660162.
Recommended in
Sangster, George; Collinson, J. Martin; Helbig, Andreas J.; Knox, Alan G.; Parkin, David T. (10 October 2005). "Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: third report". Ibis. 147 (4): 821–826. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.2005.00483.x. S2CID 250043960.
Also summarized in
Collinson, Martin (1 June 2006). "Splitting headaches? Recent taxonomic changes affecting the British and Western Palearctic lists". British Birds. 99: 306–323. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
"Category D species". British Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 8 July 2014. "Category E species". British Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
Les Christidis & Walter E Boles (2008) Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO publishing. ISBN 978-0-643-06511-6
Lepage, Denis. "Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus) (Gmelin, 1788)". Avibase. Retrieved 21 June 2014. (See also similar pages for the other species.)
Clements, James F. (June 2007). The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World (6th ed.). Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 47–48.
The Clements Checklist Team (2012). "Updates & Corrections: September 2012". The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 2 July 2014. "Page 48, Little Eagle Hieraaetus morphnoides. Elevate the monotypic group Little Eagle (Pygmy) (Hieraaetus morphnoides weiskei) to species rank as Pygmy Eagle (Hieraaetus weiskei). Reference: Gjershaug, J.O., H.R.L. Lerner, and O.H. Diserud. 2009. Taxonomy and distribution of the Pygmy Eagle Aquila (Hieraaetus) weiskei (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae). Zootaxa number 2326: 24–38."

"Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors – IOC World Bird List". www.worldbirdnames.org. Retrieved 2023-07-29.

Helbig AJ, Kocum A, Seibold I & Braun MJ (2005) A multi-gene phylogeny of aquiline eagles (Aves: Accipitriformes) reveals extensive paraphyly at the genus level. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 35(1):147-164 PDF[permanent dead link]
Blanford, W. T. (1894). "On the Scientific Names of the Imperial and Spotted Eagles and on the Generic Names of Bonelli's Eagle and the Black Eagle". Ibis. 36 (2): 283–289. doi:10.1111/j.1474-919X.1894.tb07754.x.