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 of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, . 4th edition. Wellington, Te Papa Press and Ornithological Society of New Zealand. Pages 169 & 172-173.

Order : Secretary-, Kites, , Hawks and Allies The diurnal birds-of-prey (, 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 , Sangster et al. (2005) have transferred pennatus Gmelin, 1788 to Aquila as Aquila pennata, thereby making Hieraaetus Kaup, 1844 a of Aquila Brisson, 1760. As they restricted comment to Western Palaearctic , it is not clear what the total advocated composition of Aquila is. However, in such a broadened definition of Aquila, Harpagornis, which was shown by Bunce et al. (2005) to be the sister taxon of Hieraaetus morphnoides and H. pennatus, is a derivative of the common ancestor of all “”. Given this, we follow Sangster et al. (2005), Barthel & Helbig (2005), Mebs & Schmidt (2006) and Commission de l’Avifaune Française (2007) in recognising only one for the “booted eagles” of the subfamily (sensu Lerner & Mindell 2005).

None of the family-group names in Vieillot’s Analyse d’une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire (1816) were based on Linnaean generic names (Bock 1994), so none are valid under ICZN (1999). Accipitrini Vieillot, 1816: 22, while designated as a family, does not provide the basis of a valid family-group name. ICZN (1999) does not rule on names above family-group level, so Vieillot names are available for such names. Accipitriformes Vieillot may be used for Accipitridae and Sagittariidae. Brodkorb (1964) provided detailed synonymies of all nomenclatorial groupings that have been proposed.

Family ACCIPITRIDAE Vigors: Kites, Eagles, Hawks and Allies Subfamily Vigors: Kites, Eagles, Hawks and Allies Accipitrina Vigors, 1824: Zoological Journal 1: 313 – Type genus Accipiter Brisson, 1760.

Within this subfamily we include: Milvinae Vigors, 1824; Aquilinae Vigors, 1824; and Circinae Bonaparte, 1838. The taxon Haliaeetus australis (Harrison & Walker, 1973) is deleted from the New Zealand list as it is considered to be based on bones of the Alaskan bald H. leucocephalus mistakenly mixed with bones from the Chatham Islands after their collection by Forbes (Millener 1999, Worthy & Holdaway 2002).

Genus Aquila Brisson Aquila Brisson, 1760: Ornithologie 1: 28, 419 – Type species (by tautonymy) Aquila Brisson = Falco chrysaetos Linnaeus = Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus). Hieraaetus Kaup, 1844: Classfn Säugeth. Vög.: 120 – Type species (by original designation) Falco pennatus Gmelin = Aquila pennata (Gmelin). Harpagornis Haast, 1872: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 4: 193 – Type species (by monotypy) Harpagornis moorei Haast = Aquila moorei (Haast).

† Aquila moorei (Haast) Haast’s Eagle Harpagornis moorei Haast, 1872: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 4: 193 – Glenmark, Canterbury. Harpagornis assimilis Haast, 1874: Trans. N.Z. Inst. 6: 64 – Glenmark, Canterbury. Hieraaetus moorei (Haast); Bunce et al. 2004, Public Library Science Biology 39(1) E9: 1. Aquila moorei (Haast); this work. New combination.

Holdaway (1990) synonymised Harpagornis assimilis with H. moorei, formalising the treatment that had been in use for some time. Based on a morphological skeletal analysis, Holdaway (1991, 1994a) found Harpagornis to be the sister taxon of Aquila, contra Oliver (1955) who provided reasons for Haliaeetus being the closest relative. Bunce et al. (2005) assessed the phylogenetic relationships of Harpagornis using mtDNA, and obtained data placing it in a with a group of small eagles in the genus Hieraaetus, specifically the H. morphnoides and the H. pennatus. Bunce et al. (2005) advocated the synonymy of Harpagornis within Hieraaetus and not with Aquila as suggested by Holdaway (1994a). Following publication of several phylogenetic studies (Wink & Seibold 1996, Wink et al. 1996, Wink 2000, Wink & Sauer-Gürth 2000, Roulin & Wink 2004, Wink & Sauer-Gürth 2004, Helbig et al. 2005, Lerner & Mindell 2005, Haring et al. 2007) a reassessment of the of Hieraaetus and Aquila eagles has been synthesised which proposes that the species currently included in Hieraaetus and Aquila do not form separate monophyletic groups but a series of minor at a level below that of genus. Thus all “booted” eagle taxa, often previously included in Aquilinae, are now widely agreed to belong to a single genus Aquila (see Barthel & Helbig 2005, Sangster et al. 2005, Mebs & Schmidt 2006, Commission de l’Avifaune Française 2007) and, given the genetic evidence of Bunce et al. (2005) and the morphological evidence of Holdaway (1994a), we include H. moorei in this genus.

Widespread in South Island in –Holocene sites and in middens. No valid records from the North Island (Worthy 2000). Its range contracted at the end of the Pleistocene so that in the Holocene it was found only in mountainous areas and east of the Southern Alps / Kä Tiritiri o te Moana.