Aerospiza is a genus containing goshawks and a sparrowhawk in the family Accipitridae that are found in Africa. The three species in the genus were formerly placed in the genus Accipiter.

Aerospiza
Female African goshawk (Aerospiza tachiro)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Subfamily: Accipitrinae
Genus: Aerospiza
Roberts, 1922
Type species
Falco tachio
Daudin, 1800

Taxonomy

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The genus Aerospiza was introduced in 1922 by the South African zoologist Austin Roberts with Falco tachio, Daudin, 1800 (the African goshawk) as the type species.[1][2] The name combines the Ancient Greek αηρ (aēr), αερος (aeros) meaning "air" with σπιζιας (spizias) meaning "hawk".[3] Species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Accipiter. Molecular phylogenetic studies found that Accipiter was polyphyletic and in the subsequently rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the genus Aerospiza was resurrected to contain three species that were previously placed in Accipiter.[4][5]

The genus contains 3 species:[5]

Genus Aerospiza Roberts, 1922 – three species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Red-chested goshawk

 

Aerospiza toussenelii
(Verreaux, J, Verreaux, É & des Murs, 1855)

Four subspecies
  • A. t. macroscelides - (Hartlaub, 1855)
  • A. t. lopezi - (Alexander, 1903)
  • A. t. toussenelii - (Verreaux, J, Verreaux, E & Des Murs, 1855)
  • A. t. canescens - (Chapin, 1921)
west and west-central Africa Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


African goshawk

 

Aerospiza tachiro
(Daudin, 1800)

Four subspecies
  • A. t. unduliventer - (Rüppell, 1836)
  • A. t. sparsimfasciatus - (Reichenow, 1895)
  • A. t. pembaensis - Benson & Elliott, HFI, 1975
  • A. t. tachiro - (Daudin, 1800)
east, south and south-central Africa
 
Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 


Chestnut-flanked sparrowhawk

 

Aerospiza castanilius
(Bonaparte, 1853)

Two subspecies
  • A. c. castanilius - (Bonaparte, 1853)
  • A. c. beniensis - (Lönnberg, 1917)
west-central Africa Size:

Habitat:

Diet:
 LC 



References

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  1. ^ Roberts, Austin (1922). "Review of the nomenclature of South African birds". Annals of the Transvaal Museum. 8 (4): 187-272 [208].
  2. ^ Sangster, G.; Kirwan, G.M.; Fuchs, J.; Dickinson, E.C.; Elliott, A.; Gregory, S.M.S. (2021). "A new genus for the tiny hawk Accipiter superciliosus and semicollared hawk A. collaris (Aves: Accipitridae), with comments on the generic name for the crested goshawk A. trivirgatus and Sulawesi goshawk A. griseiceps". Vertebrate Zoology. 71: 419–424. doi:10.3897/vz.71.e67501.
  3. ^ Jobling, James A. "Aerospiza". The Key to Scientific Names. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
  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. doi:10.1093/biolinnean/blae028.
  5. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors". IOC World Bird List Version 14.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 21 August 2024.