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Old World Vultures
Old World vultures are vultures that are found in the Old World, i.e. the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and which belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes eagles, buzzards, Kite (bird), kites, and hawks. Old World vultures are not closely related to the superficially similar New World vultures and condors, and do not share that group's good sense of smell. The similarities between the two groups of vultures are due to convergent evolution, rather than a close relationship. They were widespread in both the Old World and North America during the Neogene. Old World vultures are probably a polyphyletic group within Accipitridae, belonging to two separate not closely related groups within the family. Most authorities refer to two major clades: Gypaetinae (''Gypaetus, Gypohierax'' and ''Neophron'') and Aegypiinae (''Aegypius'', ''Gyps'', ''Sarcogyps'', ''Torgos'', ''Trigonoceps'' and possibly ''Necrosyrtes''). The former seem to be nested with Perninae hawks, whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neogene
The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. The Neogene is sub-divided into two epochs, the earlier Miocene and the later Pliocene. Some geologists assert that the Neogene cannot be clearly delineated from the modern geological period, the Quaternary. The term "Neogene" was coined in 1853 by the Austrian palaeontologist Moritz Hörnes (1815–1868). During this period, mammals and birds continued to evolve into modern forms, while other groups of life remained relatively unchanged. The first humans (''Homo habilis'') appeared in Africa near the end of the period. Some continental movements took place, the most significant event being the connection of North and South America at the Isthmus of Panama, late in the Pliocene. This cut off the warm ocean currents from the Pacific to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. It is currently defined as the time between c. 129,000 and c. 11,700 years ago. The Late Pleistocene equates to the proposed Tarantian Age of the geologic time scale, preceded by the officially ratified Chibanian (formerly known as Middle Pleistocene) and succeeded by the officially ratified Greenlandian. The estimated beginning of the Tarantian is the start of the Eemian interglacial period (Marine Isotope Stage 5). It is held to end with the termination of the Younger Dryas, some 10th millennium BC, 11,700 years ago when the Holocene Epoch began. The term Upper Pleistocene is currently in use as a provisional or "quasi-formal" designation by the International Union of Geological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aquilinae
The Aquilinae are a subfamily of eagles of the family Accipitridae. The general common name used for members of this subfamily is "booted eagle", although this is also the common name of a member of the subfamily.Lerner, H., Christidis, L., Gamauf, A., Griffiths, C., Haring, E., Huddleston, C. J., Kabra, S., Kocum, A., Krosby, M., Kvaloy, K., Mindell, D., Rasmussen, P., Rov, N., Wadleigh, R., Michael Wink & Gjershaug, J. O. (2017). ''Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the Booted Eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae)''. ''Zootaxa'' 4216 (4), 301-320. At one point, this subfamily was considered inclusive with the Buteoninae (commonly known as buzzards or buteonine hawks) based probably on some shared morphological characteristics.Amadon, D. (1982). ''The genera of booted eagles: Aquila and relatives''. Journal of the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, 14(2-3), 108-121. However, research on the DNA of the booted eagles has shown that they are a monophyletic group that probably have had mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perninae
The raptor subfamily Perninae includes a number of medium-sized broad-winged species. These are birds of warmer climates, although the ''Pernis'' species (European honey buzzard and crested honey buzzard) have a more extensive range. Several of the species in this group eat mainly insects, and the honey-buzzards are specialist feeders on wasp larvae. Reptiles are also taken by several birds in this group. Several authorities consider Gypaetinae to be within or even synonymous with Perninae.(Griffiths et al. 2007, Lerner and Mindell 2005) Taxonomy * Subfamily Perninae ** Genus '' Aviceda'' *** African cuckoo-hawk, ''Aviceda cuculoides'' *** Madagascar cuckoo-hawk, ''Aviceda madagascariensis'' *** Jerdon's baza, ''Aviceda jerdoni'' *** Pacific baza, ''Aviceda subcristata'' *** Black baza, ''Aviceda leuphotes'' ** Genus ''Henicopernis'' *** Long-tailed honey buzzard, ''Henicopernis longicauda'' *** Black honey buzzard, ''Henicopernis infuscatus'' ** Genus '' Pernis'' *** Europea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Necrosyrtes
The hooded vulture (''Necrosyrtes monachus'') is an Old World vulture in the order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus ''Necrosyrtes,'' which is sister to the larger ''Gyps'' genus, both of which are a part of the Aegypiinae subfamily of Old World vultures. It is native to sub-Saharan Africa, where it has a widespread distribution with populations in southern, East and West Africa. It is a scruffy-looking, small vulture with dark brown plumage, a long thin bill, bare crown, face and fore-neck, and a downy nape and hind-neck. Its face is usually a light red colour. It typically scavenges on carcasses of wildlife and domestic animals. Although it remains a common species with a stable population in the lower region of Casamance, some areas of The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, other regions such as Dakar, Senegal, show more than 85% losses in population over the last 50 years. Threats include poisoning, hunting, los ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gyps
''Gyps'' is a genus of Old World vultures that was proposed by Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. Its members are sometimes known as griffon vultures. ''Gyps'' vultures have a slim head, a long slender neck with downy feathers, and a ruff around the neck formed by long buoyant feathers. The crown of their big beaks is a little compressed, and their big dark nostrils are set transverse to the beak. They have six or seven wing feathers, of which the first is the shortest and the fourth the longest. Taxonomy The genus ''Gyps'' was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny to accommodate the Eurasian griffon vulture. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ''gups'' meaning "vultur". The genus contains eight extanct species. Two fossil species have been described: * † Maltese vulture ''G. melitensis'' Lydekker, 1890 – Fossil remains were found in Middle to Late Pleistocene sites all over the central and eastern Mediterranean. * † ''G. bochenskii'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aegypius
''Aegypius'' is a genus of Old World vultures found in the subfamily Gypinae. Of the three species in the genus, only the cinereous vulture is extant. The Cinerous vulture (Aegypius Monachus) is a creature that is hard to find as it is “a near threatened raptor that occurs in isolated populations across its range” (Çakmak). There were studies being conducted on the cinerous vulture and it indicates “that the Turkish birds hold, along with those from the Caucasus, an intermediate position between European (Balkan and Iberian) and North Asian (Mongolian) lineages” (Çakmak). The genus name ''Aegypius'' is a Greek word (αἰγυπιός) for 'vulture', or a bird not unlike one; Aelian describes the ''aegypius'' as "halfway between a vulture (''gyps'') and an eagle". Some authorities think this a good description of a lammergeier; others do not. Aegypius is the eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neophron
Neophron of Sicyon (Νεόφρων, -ονος) was one of the most prolific of the ancient Greek dramatists, to whom are accredited one hundred and twenty pieces, of which only a few fragments of his ''Medea'' remain. This, it is said, Euripides used in his tragedy which bears the same title, although modern scholarship is divided on which tragedy came first. Neophron likely lived in the second half of the fifth century B.C. and was a rough contemporary of Euripides. As Suidas tells us, he introduced in his plays the torture of slaves, such scenes, according to the canons of dramatic art, not being enacted on the stage, but merely referred to by messengers. Alexander the Great had Neophron executed along with the philosopher Callisthenes Callisthenes of Olynthus (; grc-gre, Καλλισθένης; 360327 BCE) was a well-connected Greek historian in Macedon, who accompanied Alexander the Great during his Asiatic expedition. The philosopher Aristotle was Callisthenes's grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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