Circaetus
| Circaetus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Short-toed snake eagle (Circaetus gallicus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Circaetinae |
| Genus: | Circaetus Vieillot, 1816 |
Circaetus, the snake eagles, is a genus of medium-sized eagles in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek kirkos, a type of hawk, and aetos, "eagle".[1]
These are mainly resident African species, but the migratory short-toed snake eagle breeds from the Mediterranean basin into Russia, the Middle East and India, and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and east to Indonesia.
Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains arid savanna, but require trees in which to build a stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female.
Circaetus eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on reptiles, mainly snakes, but also take lizards and occasionally small mammals.
Species in taxonomic order
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Circaetus gallicus | Short-toed snake eagle | the Mediterranean basin, into Russia and the Middle East, and parts of Asia |
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Circaetus pectoralis - sometimes included in C. gallicus | Black-chested snake eagle | southern Africa from Ethiopia and Sudan in the north to South Africa in the south and Angola in the southwest |
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Circaetus beaudouini - sometimes included in C. gallicus | Beaudouin's snake eagle | Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and Gambia through southern Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger, northern Nigeria and Cameroon, southern Chad, Central African Republic and South Sudan. |
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Circaetus cinereus | Brown snake eagle | West, East and southern Africa |
 |
Circaetus fasciolatus | Southern banded snake eagle or fasciated snake eagle | eastern Sub-Saharan Africa. |
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Circaetus cinerascens | Western banded snake eagle | Africa in the northern tropics from Senegal and Gambia east through to Ethiopia and then south to southern Angola and Zimbabwe |
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Circaetus spectabilis | Congo serpent eagle | southern Sierra Leone and Guinea, Liberia, and southern Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana |
Fossil record
Circaetus rhodopensis late Miocene of Bulgaria)[2]
Circaetus haemusensis (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)[3]
References
- ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2012. Circaetus rhodopensis sp. n. (Aves, Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (1): 5-12.
- ^ Boev, Z. 2015. An Early Pleistocene Snake-eagle (Circaetus haemusensis sp. n. - Aves, Accipitriformes) from Varshets (NW Bulgaria). – Acta zoologica bulgarica. 67 (1), 2015: 127-138.