''Aegypius'' is a genus of
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, kites, and hawks.
Old World vultures are not clo ...
found in the subfamily
Gypinae
Aegypiinae is one of two subfamilies of Accipitridae that are referred to as Old World vultures, the other being the Gypaetinae. They are not closely related to the Gypaetinae, and are instead thought to be the sister group to the serpent-eagle ...
. Of the three species in the genus, only the
cinereous vulture
The cinereous vulture (''Aegypius monachus'') is a large raptor in the family Accipitridae and distributed through much of temperate Eurasia. It is also known as the black vulture, monk vulture and Eurasian black vulture. With a body length of , ...
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
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
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
The bearded vulture (''Gypaetus barbatus''), also known as the lammergeier and ossifrage, is a very large bird of prey and the only member of the genus ''Gypaetus''. Traditionally considered an Old World vulture, it actually forms a separate mi ...
; others do not.
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 nea ...
is the
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
of the species, whatever it was.
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]
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13428439
Bird genera
Bird genera with one living species
Taxa named by Marie Jules César Savigny