Aegypiinae Explained

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 a sister group to the serpent-eagles (Circaetinae).^[1]

Presently found throughout much of Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe, fossil evidence indicates that as recently as the Late Pleistocene, they ranged into Australia.^{[2] [3]}

Taxonomy

The cladogram of the Aegypiinae shown below is based on a molecular phylogenetic study of the Accipitridae by Therese Catanach and collaborators that was published in 2024.^[4]

Genera

Genus	Common and binomial names	Image	Range
Necrosyrtes	Hooded vulture Necrosyrtes monachus		Sub-Saharan Africa
Gyps	Griffon vulture Gyps fulvus		Mountains in southern Europe, north Africa and Asia
	White-rumped vulture Gyps bengalensis		Northern and central India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and southeast Asia
	Rüppell's vulture Gyps rueppelli		The Sahel region of central Africa
	Indian vulture Gyps indicus		Central and peninsular India
	Slender-billed vulture Gyps tenuirostris		The Sub-Himalayan regions of India and into Southeast Asia
	Himalayan vulture Gyps himalayensis		The Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau
	White-backed vulture Gyps africanus		Savannahs of west and east Africa
	Cape vulture Gyps coprotheres		Southern Africa
Sarcogyps	Red-headed vulture Sarcogyps calvus		The Indian Subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in Southeast Asia
Trigonoceps	White-headed vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis		Sub-Saharan Africa. Extinct populations have occurred in Indonesia.^[5]
Torgos	Lappet-faced vulture Torgos tracheliotos		Sub-Saharan Africa, the Sinai and Negev deserts and north-west Saudi Arabia
Aegypius	Cinereous vulture Aegypius monachus		Southwestern and central Europe, Turkey, the central Middle East, northern India, central and east Asia
	†Aegypius jinniushanensis		Pleistocene of China
	†Aegypius prepyrenaicus		Pleistocene of Spain

Fossil genera

Subfamily	Genus	Common and binomial names	Image	Range
Aegypiinae	†Cryptogyps	†Cryptogyps lacertosus		Pleistocene of Australia
	†Gansugyps	†Gansugyps linxiaensis		Miocene of China

† = extinct

Further reading

• Book: Ferguson-Lees . James . James Ferguson-Lees . Christie . David A. . 2001 . Illustrated by Kim Franklin, David Mead, and Philip Burton . Raptors of the World . Houghton Mifflin . 978-0-618-12762-7 . 2011-05-26. none .
• Book: Grimmett . Richard . Inskipp . Carol . Inskipp . Tim . 1999 . Illustrated by Clive Byers et al . Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives . Princeton University Press . 978-0-691-04910-6 . 43578307. none .
• 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010. Lerner. Heather R. L.. Mindell. David P.. November 2005. Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 1055-7903. 37. 2. 327–346. 15925523. 31 May 2011 . none.

Notes and References

1. Lerner . Heather R. L. . Mindell . David P. . 2005 . Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 37 . 2 . 327–346 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010 .
2. Mather . Ellen K. . Lee . Michael S. Y. . Worthy . Trevor H. . 2022-07-20 . A new look at an old Australian raptor places "Taphaetus" lacertosus de Vis 1905 in the Old World vultures (Accipitridae: Aegypiinae) . Zootaxa . en . 5168 . 1 . 1–23 . 10.11646/zootaxa.5168.1.1 . 36101304 . 250938004 . 1175-5334. free .
3. Web site: Mindat.org . 2022-07-22 . www.mindat.org.
4. Catanach . T.A. . Halley . M.R. . Pirro . S. . 2024 . Enigmas no longer: using ultraconserved elements to place several unusual hawk taxa and address the non-monophyly of the genus Accipiter (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae) . Biological Journal of the Linnean Society . blae028 . 10.1093/biolinnean/blae028.
5. Web site: Continental-style avian extinctions on an oceanic island. Hanneke J.M.. et al. Repository.si.edu. 17 October 2018.