Accipiter

Accipiter
Collared sparrowhawk, Kobble Creek (Queensland, Australia)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Accipitriformes
Family:	Accipitridae
Subfamily:	Accipitrinae
Genus:	Accipiter Brisson, 1760
Synonyms
Hieraspiza Kaup, 1844 (but see text)

Accipiter is a genus of birds of prey in the family Accipitridae. With 51 recognized species it is the most diverse genus in its family. Most species are called goshawks or sparrowhawks, although almost all New World species (excepting the northern goshawk) are simply known as hawks. They can be anatomically distinguished from their relatives by the lack of a procoracoid foramen. Two small and aberrant species usually placed here do possess a large procoracoid foramen and are also distinct as regards DNA sequence. They may warrant separation in the old genus Hieraspiza.^[1]

Extant accipiters range in size from the little sparrowhawk (A. minullus), in which the smallest males measure 20 cm (7.9 in) long, span 39 cm (15 in) across the wings and weigh 68 g (2.4 oz), to the northern goshawk (A. gentilis), in which the largest females measure 64 cm (25 in) long, span 127 cm (50 in) across the wings, and weigh 2.2 kg (4.9 lb).^[2] These birds are slender with short, broad, rounded wings and a long tail which helps them maneuver in flight. They have long legs and long, sharp talons used to kill their prey, and a sharp, hooked bill used in feeding. Females tend to be larger than males. They often ambush their prey, mainly small birds and mammals, capturing them after a short chase. The typical flight pattern is a series of flaps followed by a short glide. They are commonly found in wooded or shrubby areas.

The genus Accipiter was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760 with the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) as the type species.^[3][4] The name is Latin for "hawk", from accipere, "to grasp".^[5]

Procoracoid foramen[]

The procoracoid foramen (or coracoid foramen, coracoid fenestra) is a hole through the process at the front of the coracoid bone, which accommodates the supracoracoideus nerve. In some groups of birds it may be present as a notch, or incisura; or the notch may be partially or weakly closed with bone. In other groups the feature is completely absent.

The foramen is generally present in birds of prey, but it is absent in most Accipiter hawks that have been studied. This absence is proposed as a diagnostic feature.

A study of accipitrid skeletons found procoracoid incisurae (as opposed to foramina) in some specimens of the eagles Aquila gurneyi and A. chrysaetos, but not in four other Aquila species. The notch was variably open or weakly ossified in Spizastur melanoleucos, Lophoaetus occipitalis, Spizaetus ornatus, and Stephanoaetus coronatus. Also the buteonine hawks Buteo brachyurus and B. hemilasius had incisurae, differing from 17 other Buteo species.^[6]

In Circus the foramen was found to be variable, not only within species but even between sides in the same individual. It is usually open or absent but may be closed by "a thread of bone". Research in genetic phylogeny has since indicated that Circus is closely related to Accipiter.

The notch was also absent or indistinct in Harpagus bidentatus.

Urotriorchis macrourus has a well-developed procoracoid foramen, which suggests a separation from Accipiter. It may be related to the chanting goshawks in tribe Melieraxini.^[7]

Genetic phylogeny[]

Analysis of molecular genetics indicates that Accipiter is paraphyletic to the Circus harriers, even though the two groups differ in hunting habits and body shape.^[8] There are three or four clades of Accipiter, with Circus, Megatriorchis and Erythrotriorchis intermixed.

John Boyd proposes splitting Accipiter into four separate genera: , , Accipiter, and .^[9] In this scheme Tachyspiza has the most species, and a reduced Accipiter would have only six: Eurasian sparrowhawk (A. nisus, type species), rufous-breasted sparrowhawk (A. rufiventris), sharp-shinned hawk (A. striatus), white-breasted hawk (A. chionogaster), plain-breasted hawk (A. ventralis), rufous-thighed hawk (A. erythronemius).

• Tribe
  • (group 1)
    • Erythrotriorchis
    • Aerospiza
    • Tachyspiza
  • (group 2)
    • Accipiter
    • (group 2a)
      • Megatriorchis
      • Astur
      • Circus
        • harriers
        • swamp-harriers

List of Accipiter species[]

There are 51 species in the Accipiter genus.^[10]

Common name[a]	Scientific name [b]	IUCN Red List Status			Distribution	Picture
		Status	Trend	Population[c]
Tiny hawk	Accipiter superciliosus (Linnaeus, 1766)	LC IUCN[11]		670 - 6,700
Semicollared hawk	Accipiter collaris Sclater, 1860	NT IUCN[12]		1,500 - 7,000	Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador
Crested goshawk	Accipiter trivirgatus (Temminck, 1824)	LC IUCN[13]
Sulawesi goshawk	Accipiter griseiceps (Schlegel, 1862)	LC IUCN[14]
Grey-bellied hawk	Accipiter poliogaster (Temminck, 1824)	NT IUCN[15]		1,000 - 10,000
Red-chested goshawk	Accipiter toussenelii (J. Verreaux, E. Verreaux, and Des Murs, 1855)	LC IUCN[16]			West and East Africa
African goshawk	Accipiter tachiro (Daudin, 1800)	LC IUCN[17]
Chestnut-flanked sparrowhawk	Accipiter castanilius Bonaparte, 1853	LC IUCN[18]			West Africa
Shikra	Accipiter badius Gmelin, 1788	LC IUCN[19]		500,000 - 999,999
Nicobar sparrowhawk	Accipiter butleri (Gurney, 1898)	VU IUCN[20]		2,500 - 5,000	Nicobar Islands, India
Levant sparrowhawk	Accipiter brevipes (Severtzov, 1850)	LC IUCN[21]		10,000 - 19,999
Chinese sparrowhawk	Accipiter soloensis (Horsfield, 1821)	LC IUCN[22]		100,000 - 499,999	East and Southeast Asia
Frances's sparrowhawk	Accipiter francesiae Smith, 1834	LC IUCN[23]			Comoro Islands and Madagascar
Spot-tailed sparrowhawk	Accipiter trinotatus Bonaparte, 1850	LC IUCN[24]			Sulawesi, Indonesia
Grey goshawk	Accipiter novaehollandiae (Gmelin, 1788)	LC IUCN[25]		2,500 - 9,999	Australia
Variable goshawk	Accipiter hiogaster (PLS Müller, 1841)	LC IUCN[26]			Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
Brown goshawk	Accipiter fasciatus (Vigors and Horsfield, 1827)	LC IUCN[27]			Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia
Black-mantled goshawk	Accipiter melanochlamys (Salvadori, 1875)	LC IUCN[28]		670 - 6,700	New Guinea
Pied goshawk	Accipiter albogularis Gray, 1870	LC IUCN[29]		670 - 6,700	Bougainville, Solomon Islands
White-bellied goshawk	Accipiter haplochrous Sclater, 1859	NT IUCN[30]		1,500 - 7,000	New Caledonia
Fiji goshawk	Accipiter rufitorques (Peale, 1848)	LC IUCN[31]		670 - 6,700	Fiji
Moluccan goshawk	Accipiter henicogrammus (G.R. Gray, 1860)	NT IUCN[32]		2,500 - 9,999	Halmahera, Indonesia
Slaty-mantled goshawk	Accipiter luteoschistaceus Rothschild & Hartert, 1926	VU IUCN[33]		1,000 - 2,499	Papua New Guinea
Imitator goshawk	Accipiter imitator Hartert, 1926	VU IUCN[34]		250 - 999	Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands
Grey-headed goshawk	Accipiter poliocephalus (Gray, 1858)	LC IUCN[35]			New Guinea and surrounding islands
New Britain goshawk	Accipiter princeps Mayr, 1934	VU IUCN[36]		2,500 - 9,999	Papua New Guinea
Red-thighed sparrowhawk	Accipiter erythropus (Hartlaub, 1855)	LC IUCN[37]			West Africa
Little sparrowhawk	Accipiter minullus (Daudin, 1800)[38]	LC IUCN[39]			Southern and East Africa
Japanese sparrowhawk	Accipiter gularis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1844)	LC IUCN[40]			East and Southeast Asia
Besra	Accipiter virgatus Temminck, 1822	LC IUCN[41]		20,000 - 200,000
Dwarf sparrowhawk	Accipiter nanus (Blasius, 1897)	NT IUCN[42]			Suwalesi and Buton, Indonesia
Rufous-necked sparrowhawk	Accipiter erythrauchen Gray, 1861	NT IUCN[43]		670 - 6,700	Maluku Islands, Indonesia
Collared sparrowhawk	Accipiter cirrocephalus Vieillot, 1817	LC IUCN[44]			Australia, New Guinea
New Britain sparrowhawk	Accipiter brachyurus Ramsay, 1879	VU IUCN[45]		1,000 - 2,499	Papua New Guinea
Vinous-breasted sparrowhawk	Accipiter rhodogaster (Schlegel, 1862)	LC IUCN[46]		670 - 6,700	Sulawesi, Indonesia
Madagascar sparrowhawk	Accipiter madagascariensis Smith, 1834	NT IUCN[47]		3,300 - 6,700	Madagascar
Ovambo sparrowhawk	Accipiter ovampensis Gurney, 1875	LC IUCN[48]			Sub-Saharan Africa
Eurasian sparrowhawk	Accipiter nisus (Linnaeus, 1758)	LC IUCN[49]		2,200,000 - 3,300,000
Rufous-chested sparrowhawk	Accipiter rufiventris Smith, 1830	LC IUCN[50]
Sharp-shinned hawk	Accipiter striatus Vieillot, 1808	LC IUCN[51]
White-breasted hawk	Accipiter chionogaster Kaup, 1852				Sub-Saharan Africa
Plain-breasted hawk	Accipiter ventralis PL Sclater, 1866				Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia
Rufous-thighed hawk	Accipiter erythronemius Kaup, 1850				Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina
Cooper's hawk	Accipiter cooperii (Bonaparte, 1828)	LC IUCN[52]
Gundlach's hawk	Accipiter gundlachi Lawrence, 1860	EN IUCN[53]		700 - 900	Cuba
Bicolored hawk	Accipiter bicolor (Vieillot, 1817)	LC IUCN[54]	Unknown	20,000 - 49,999
Chilean hawk	Accipiter chilensis Philippi & Landbeck, 1864
Black sparrowhawk	Accipiter melanoleucus Smith, 1830	LC IUCN[55]
Henst's goshawk	Accipiter henstii (Schlegel, 1873)	VU IUCN[56]		670 - 1,500	Madagascar
Northern goshawk	Accipiter gentilis (Linnaeus, 1758)	LC IUCN[57]	Unknown	1,000,000 - 2,499,999
Meyer's goshawk	Accipiter meyerianus (Sharpe, 1878)	LC IUCN[58]		670 - 6,700	Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands

Extinct species[]

• Powerful goshawk, Accipiter efficax^[59]
• Gracile goshawk, Accipiter quartus^[59]

Notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Balete, Danilo S.; Tabaranza, Blas R. Jr. & Heaney, Lawrence R. (2006): An Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana Zool. New Series 106: 58–72. DOI:10.3158/0015-0754(2006)106[58:AACOTB]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
• Heaney, Lawrence R. & Tabaranza, Blas R. Jr. (2006): Mammal and Land Bird Studies on Camiguin Island, Philippines: Background and Conservation Priorities. Fieldiana Zool. New Series 106: 1-13. DOI:10.3158/0015-0754(2006)106[1:MALBSO]2.0.CO;2 HTML abstract
• Olson, Storrs L. (2006): Reflections on the systematics of Accipiter and the genus for Falco superciliosus Linnaeus. Bull. B.O.C. 126: 69–70. PDF fulltext. Archived copy.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Accipiter.

• Pictures of Accipiters and information about North American Accipiters
• Accipiter Photos