Phalcoboenus

Phalcoboenus is a small genus of caracara in the family Falconidae. They are found in barren, open habitats in the Andes, Patagonia and the Falkland Islands. The four extant species are almost entirely allopatric. The adults are distinctive, with bare yellow, orange or red facial skin and cere, and a black plumage with variable amounts of white. Juveniles are overall brown with pale pinkish-grey facial skin and cere. They are highly opportunistic and typically seen walking on the ground, where they will feed on carrion and virtually any small animal they can catch.

Phalcoboenus
Mountain caracara (Phalcoboenus megalopterus)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Falconiformes
Family:	Falconidae
Subfamily:	Polyborinae
Genus:	Phalcoboenus d'Orbigny, 1834
Type species
Phalcoboenus montanus[1] d'Orbigny, 1834
Species
Phalcoboenus carunculatus Phalcoboenus megalopterus Phalcoboenus albogularis Phalcoboenus australis Phalcoboenus napieri †
Synonyms[2]
Phalcobaenus d'Orbigny, 1835[3] Phalcobenus Geoffroy, 1836 Falcobaenus Lafresnaye, 1839 Falcoboenus Giebel, 1874 Oronertus Heine & Reichenow, 1890[4] Phascobaenus Jardine & Selby, 1838 Phalocoboenus Fraser, 1843 Phacobaenus Bonaparte, 1850

The name, meaning "walking falcon",^[5] is derived from Greek: φάλκων 'phálcōn' (hawk, falcon) and βαίνω 'baínō' (I go, I walk).^[6] The original lithograph print produced for Alcide d'Orbigny is captioned "Phalcobœnus montanus" with an o-e ligature,^[7] but his later text has "Phalcobænus montanus" with a-e ligature in "Phalcobaenus".^[6]

Species

There are four extant and one extinct species.

The extant species are:

Genus Phalcoboenus – d'Orbigny, 1834 – four species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Carunculated caracara	Phalcoboenus carunculatus Des Murs, 1853	Ecuador and Colombia.	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Mountain caracara	Phalcoboenus megalopterus (Meyen, 1834)	Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Argentina	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
White-throated caracara	Phalcoboenus albogularis (Gould, 1837)	southern Chile and Argentina	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Striated caracara	Phalcoboenus australis (Gmelin, JF, 1788)	Tierra del Fuego, but is more abundant in the Falklands	Size: Habitat: Diet:	NT

The extinct species is Phalcoboenus napieri which is known from subfossil remains unearthed in peat deposits from the Falkland Islands, described in 2016 and named for Roddy Napier, the owner of West Point Island in the Falklands.^[8]