Kites, Eagles, Hawks and Alli
Text extracted from Gill B.J.; Bell, B.D.; Chambers, G.K.; Medway, D.G.; Palma, R.L.; Scofield, R.P.; Tennyson, A.J.D.; Worthy, T.H. 2010. Checklist of the birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica. 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 169-170. Order ACCIPITRIFORMES: Secretary-bird, Kites, Eagles, Hawks and Allies The diurnal birds-of-prey (Accipitridae, Sagittariidae, Falconidae and Cathartidae) were long grouped in a single order usually named Falconiformes (from Sharpe 1874, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 1: ix, 1 – suborder Falcones; type Falco Linnaeus), e.g. Peters (1934), Wetmore (1960), Stresemann & Amadon (1979), del Hoyo et al. (1994). However, the strict monophyly of this group is strongly doubted, as revealed by the DNA-hybridisation studies (Sibley et al. 1988, Sibley & Ahlquist 1990) and karyological, pterylogical and morphological studies reviewed in Holdaway (1994a). This has resulted in the removal of Cathartidae, either to its own order or to within storks to which they are most closely related. Increasing evidence suggests that Falconidae and Accipitridae are not closely related (e.g. Fain & Houde 2004, Ericson et al. 2006). We follow Christidis & Boles (2008) in treating these two groups as separate orders. Within Accipitriformes as so defined, genera, as listed by, e.g. del Hoyo et al. (1994) and Dickinson (2003), are demonstrably non-monophyletic based on nuclear and mitochondrial genome data (Bunce et al. 2005, Helbig et al. 2005, Lerner & Mindell 2005, Griffiths et al. 2007). As a result of these and other phylogenetic studies concerning Aquila, Sangster et al.
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