Aegypiinae

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: ParaHoxozoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Cladus: Olfactores
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Sauropsida
Cladus: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Neodiapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Cladus: Archelosauria
Cladus: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crocopoda
Cladus: Archosauriformes
Cladus: Eucrocopoda
Cladus: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Cladus: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Subclassis: Aves
Cladus: Euavialae
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Euornithes
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Ornithurae
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Accipitriformes
Familia: Accipitridae
Subfamilia: Aegypiinae
Genera: Aegypius - Gyps - Necrosyrtes - Sarcogyps - Torgos - Trigonoceps

Name

Aegypiinae Peters, 1931

Type species: Aegypius monachus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Altweltgeier
English: Old World vultures
español: Aegypiinae
galego: Voitre
hrvatski: Strvinari starog svijeta
magyar: Óvilági keselyűformák
Bahasa Indonesia: Hering Dunia Lama
italiano: Aegypiinae
lietuvių: Grifai
norsk: Ekte gribber
polski: Sępy
русский: Грифовые
svenska: Gamla världens gamar
ไทย: แร้งโลกเก่า
Türkçe: Eski Dünya akbabaları
українська: Грифові

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]

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 Aegypius 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	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
Aegypiinae	†Gansugyps	†Gansugyps linxiaensis		Miocene of China

† = extinct
References

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. Bibcode:2005MolPE..37..327L. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2005.04.010. PMID 15925523.
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.
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.
"Mindat.org". www.mindat.org. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
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.
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. hdl:2246/830.

Hanneke J.M.; et al. "Continental-style avian extinctions on an oceanic island" (PDF). Repository.si.edu. Retrieved 17 October 2018.