Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the Booted Eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae)

Abstract

We present a phylogeny of all booted eagles (38 extant and one extinct species) based on analysis of published sequences from seven loci. We find molecular support for five major clades within the booted eagles: Nisaetus (10 species), Spizaetus (4 species), Clanga (3 species), Hieraaetus (6 species) and Aquila (11 species), requiring generic changes for 14 taxa. Additionally, we recommend that the Long-crested Eagle (Lophaetus occipitalis) and the Black Eagle (Ictinaetus malaiensis) remain in their monotypic genera, due to their distinctive morphology. We apply the recently resurrected genus Clanga for the spotted eagles (previously Aquila spp.) to resolve the paraphyly of the genus Aquila such that the clade including the Booted Eagle (H. pennatus), Little Eagle (H. morphnoides), Pygmy Eagle (H. weiskei), Ayres's Eagle (H. ayresii) and Wahlberg's Eagle (H. wahlbergi) can remain in the genus Hieraaetus. The Rufous-bellied Eagle should be retained in the genus Lophotriorchis. For consistency in English names, we recommend that the term "hawk-eagles" be used only for the species in the genera Nisaetus and Spizaetus. We suggest following new or modified English names: Cassin's Eagle (Aquila africana), Bonaparte's Eagle (A. spilogaster), Ayres's Eagle (Hieraaetus ayresii), and Black-and-chestnut Hawk-Eagle (Spizaetus isidori).

Genetic identification of Javan hawk-eagle (Nisaetus bartelsi) from Indonesia using mitochondrial COI gene

“…The Javan hawk-eagle used to be grouped in the genus Spizaetus, which distributes in South America, due to their shared morphological characteristics, including long tails and feathered tarsi. The latest studies at the molecular level suggest that all hawk-eagle species in Asia separated earlier from genus Spizaetus and formed a monophyletic branch named Nisaetus (Gamauf et al, 2005;Helbig et al, 2005;Lerner et al, 2017). However, the new phylogeny and taxonomy did not necessarily change the registered sequence names in the Genebank of the NCBI database.…”

“…This explains why several reference sequences in this study still bear the genus name Spizaetus. Genus Nisaetus comprises all species of hawk-eagles distributed in Asia, including Southeast Asia, with some species endemic to particular areas (Lerner et al, 2017). The geographical condition of southeast Asia is the major factor for its high rate of species endemicity, with the Javan hawk-eagle as an example (Gamauf et al, 2005).…”

“…However, the interspecific genetic distance data reveals that the two species are not closely related, despite their similar habitat preferences and hunting behaviors. The high interspecific genetic distance between N. bartelsi and N. cirrhatus (0.081) indicates that the two groups had already split even before the South American and African hawk-eagle lineages separated (Lerner & Mindell, 2005;Haring et al, 2007); a close interspecific genetic distance of 0.013 with N. alboniger shows that the Javan hawk-eagle (N. bartelsi) split from their ancestral population due to the rising sea level, which separated Java from Sumatra and Borneo and isolated the Javan hawk-eagle population (Gamauf et al, 2005;Haring et al, 2007;Lerner et al, 2017).…”

“…Due to the short cytb sequence, the phylogenetic tree in the previous study resulted in low bootstrap values in the phylogenetic tree especially in the deeper nodes, indicating that further genetic analysis using higher resolution genetic markers is necessary (Haring et al, 2007). Further study based on mitochondrial genes Cyt-b and 5 nuclear loci also support that Nisaetus bartelsi is sister species to Nisaetus alboniger and both taxa form a separate clade from Nisaetus nipalensis (Lerner et al, 2017). Nevertheless, to clarify the phylogenetic distinctiveness of Javan hawk-eagles, a database of the COI gene is needed.…”

Peer Review #1 of "A new parrot taxon from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico—its position within genus Amazona based on morphology and molecular phylogeny (v0.1)"

“…pallidus (Päckert et al 2012), Clanga clanga/C. pomarina (Helbig et al 2005;Lerner et al 2017) and Falco rusticolus/F. biarmicus/F.…”