Gyps Explained

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.^{[1] [2]} The genus name is from Ancient Greek gups meaning "vulture".^[3] The genus contains eight extant species.^[4]

Two fossil species have been described:

• † Maltese vulture G. melitensis Lydekker, 1890^[21] – Fossil remains were found in Middle to Late Pleistocene sites all over the central and eastern Mediterranean.^[22]
• † G. bochenskii Boev, 2010 – Fossil remains were found near Varshets in northwestern Bulgaria that were dated to the Late Pliocene.^[23]

Notes and References

1. Book: Savigny, Marie Jules César . Marie Jules César Savigny . 1809 . Description de l'Égypte: Histoire naturelle . 1 . Imprimerie impériale . Paris . French . 68, 71.
2. Book: Mayr . Ernst . Ernst Mayr . Cottrell . G. William . 1979 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 1 . 2nd . Museum of Comparative Zoology . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 305 .
3. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 183 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . August 2022 . Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors . IOC World Bird List Version 12.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 2 December 2022 .
5. Hablitz, C. L. . 1783 . https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN332461483_0004?tify={%22pages%22:[62,%22view%22:%22info%22} Vultur fulvus Briss. ]. Neue nordische Beyträge zur physikalischen und geographischen Erd- und Völkerbeschreibung, Naturgeschichte und Oekonomie . 4 . 58–59.
6. Gyps fulvus . BirdLife International . BirdLife International . 2017 . e.T22695219A118593677.
7. Book: Gmelin, J. F. . 1788 . Caroli a Linné, Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . Lipsiae . Georg Emanuel Beer . 13th aucta, reformata . I . Vultur bengalensis . 245–246 . https://archive.org/details/carolialinnsyst00linngoog/page/n259/mode/2up.
8. Gyps bengalensis . BirdLife International . 2017 . e.T22695194A118307773.
9. Book: Forster, J. R. . 1798 . F. le Vaillant's Naturgeschichte der afrikanischen Vögel . Halle . Bey Fried. Christoph Dreyssig . 35–37 . Le Chasse-siente, der Rothjäger. No. 10 (V. Coprotheres) . https://archive.org/details/flevaillantsnatu00leva/page/n71/mode/2up.
10. Gyps coprotheres . BirdLife International . 2021 . e.T22695225A197073171 . 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22695225A197073171.en . 10 December 2021.
11. Book: Scopoli, J. A. . 1786–88 . Deliciae Flora et Fauna Insubricae Ticini. An account including new descriptions of the birds and mammals collected by Pierre Sonnerat on his voyages . London . C. J. Clay . 7–18 . Aves . https://archive.org/details/cu31924005326800/page/n13/mode/2up.
12. Gyps indicus . BirdLife International . 2017 . e.T22729731A117875047.
13. Book: Gray, G.R. . 1844 . The genera of birds : comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera . 1 . Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans . London . Vulturinae, or Vultures . 5–6 . https://archive.org/details/generabirdsIGray/page/6/mode/2up.
14. Gyps tenuirostris . BirdLife International . 2017 . e.T22729460A117367614.
15. Brehm, A. . 1852 . Beiträge zur Ornithologie Nord-Ost Afrikas, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die in Europa vorkommenden Arten der Vögel . Naumannia . 2 . 3 . 38–51 .
16. Gyps rueppelli . BirdLife International . e.T22695207A118595083 . 2017.
17. Salvadori, T. . 1865 . Descrizione di una nuova species d'Avoltojo (Gyps africana) . Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia . 126 . 1 .
18. Gyps africanus . BirdLife International . BirdLife International . 2018 . e.T22695189A126667006.
19. Book: Hume, A. O. H. . 1869 . My scrap book: or rough notes on Indian oology and ornithology . Calcutta . C.B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press . 12–18 . Gyps fulvus, Gmel. (Gyps himalayensis, nobis.) . https://archive.org/details/myscrapbookorrou00hume/page/12/mode/2up.
20. Gyps himalayensis . BirdLife International . 2016 . e.T22695215A118594518.
21. Lydekker, R. . 1890 . On the remains of some large extinct birds from the cavern-deposits of Malta . Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . 28 . III . 403–411 .
22. Marco, A. S. . 2007 . New occurrences of the extinct vulture Gyps melitensis (Falconiformes, Aves) and a reappraisal of the paleospecies . Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology . 27 . 4 . 1057–1061. 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[1057:NOOTEV]2.0.CO;2 . 198131101 .
23. Boev, Z. . 2010 . Gyps bochenskii sp. n. (Aves: Falconiformes) from the Late Pliocene of Varshets (NW Bulgaria) . Acta Zoologica Bulgarica . 62 . 2 . 211–242 .