Aegypiinae

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][2]

Aegypiinae
Lappet-faced vultures (left) and a white-backed vulture
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Subfamily:	Aegypiinae Sclater, WL, 1924
Type genus
Aegyptius Savigny, 1809

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.^[3][4]

Taxonomy

The subfamily Aegypiinae was introduced (as the family Aegypiidae) in 1924 by the British zoologist William Lutley Sclater with Aegyptius Savigny, 1809, as the type genus.^[5][6]

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.^[2]

Aegypiinae	Necrosyrtes – hooded vulture Gyps – vultures (8 species) Sarcogyps – red-headed vulture Trigonoceps – white-headed vulture Torgos – lappet-faced vulture Aegypius – cinereous vulture

Genera

Genus	Common and binomial names	Image	Range
Necrosyrtes Gloger, 1841	Hooded vulture Necrosyrtes monachus		Sub-Saharan Africa
Gyps Savigny, 1809	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 Lesson, 1842	Red-headed vulture Sarcogyps calvus		The Indian Subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in Southeast Asia
Trigonoceps Lesson, 1842	White-headed vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis		Sub-Saharan Africa. Extinct populations have occurred in Indonesia.[7]
Torgos Kaup, 1828	Lappet-faced vulture Torgos tracheliotos		Sub-Saharan Africa, the Sinai and Negev deserts and north-west Saudi Arabia
Aegypius Savigny, 1809	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

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. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010.
2. 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. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blae028.
3. 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. 5168 (1): 1–23. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5168.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 36101304. S2CID 250938004.
4. "Mindat.org". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
5. Sclater, William Lutley (1924). Systema avium aethiopicarum. A systematic list of the birds of the Ethiopian region. Vol. 1. London: British Ornithologists' Union. p. 47.
6. Bock, Walter J. (1994). History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 222. New York: American Museum of Natural History. pp. 133, 257.
7. Hanneke J.M.; et al. "Continental-style avian extinctions on an oceanic island" (PDF). Repository.si.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2018.

Further reading

• Ferguson-Lees, James; Christie, David A. (2001). Raptors of the World. Illustrated by Kim Franklin, David Mead, and Philip Burton. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-618-12762-7. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
• Grimmett, Richard; Inskipp, Carol; Inskipp, Tim (1999). Birds of India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Illustrated by Clive Byers et al. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-04910-6. OCLC 43578307.
• Lerner, Heather R. L.; Mindell, David P. (November 2005). "Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 37 (2): 327–346. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 15925523. Retrieved 31 May 2011.