Astur (genus) explained

Astur is a genus containing hawks, goshawks and sparrowhawks in the family Accipitridae. The species were formerly placed in the genus Accipiter.

Taxonomy

The genus Astur was introduced in 1799 by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède.^[1] The type species was later designated by the Irish zoologist Nicholas Vigors as Falco palumbarius Linnaeus, 1758, now considered as a junior synonym of Falco gentilis Linnaeus, 1758, the Eurasian goshawk.^{[2] [3]} The name is from Latin astur, asturis meaning "hawk".^[4]

Species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Accipiter. Molecular phylogenetic studies found that Accipiter was polyphyletic and in the subsequent rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the genus Astur was resurrected in 2024 to contain nine species that were previously placed in Accipiter.^{[5] [6] [7]}

The genus contains nine species:^[7]

Notes and References

1. Book: Lacépède, Bernard Germain de . Bernard Germain de Lacépède . 1799 . Discours d'ouverture et de clôture du cours d'histoire naturelle . Tableau des sous-classes, divisions, sous-division, ordres et genres des oiseux . French . Plassan . Paris . 4 . https://books.google.com/books?id=6uhAAAAAcAAJ&pg=RA3-PA4 . Page numbering starts at one for each of the three sections.
2. Vigors . Nicholas Aylward . Nicholas Aylward Vigors . 1824 . Sketches in ornithology; or, observations on the leading affinities of some of the more extensive groups of birds (to be continued) . Zoological Journal . 1 . 308–346 [326] .
3. 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 . 10.3897/vz.71.e67501 . free .
4. Web site: Jobling . James A. . Astur . The Key to Scientific Names . Cornell Lab of Ornithology . 22 August 2024 .
5. Book: Mindell . D. . Fuchs . J. . Johnson . J. . 2018 . Phylogeny, taxonomy, and geographic diversity of diurnal raptors: Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, and Cathartiformes . Sarasola . J.H. . Grange . J.M. . Negro . J.J. . Birds of Prey: Biology and conservation in the XXI century . Cham, Switzerland . Springer . 978-3-319-73744-7 . 3-32 .
6. 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 . 10.1093/biolinnean/blae028.
7. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela C. Rasmussen . August 2024 . Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors . IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 21 August 2024 .