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Gyps
Genus of birds

Gyps is a genus of Old World vultures that was proposed by Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. Its members are sometimes known as griffon vultures. Gyps vultures have a slim head, a long slender neck with downy feathers, and a ruff around the neck formed by long buoyant feathers. The crown of their big beaks is a little compressed, and their big dark nostrils are set transverse to the beak. They have six or seven wing feathers, of which the first is the shortest and the fourth the longest.

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Taxonomy

The genus Gyps was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist Marie Jules César Savigny to accommodate the Eurasian griffon vulture.12 The genus name is from Ancient Greek gups meaning "vulture".3 The genus contains eight extant species.4

ImageNameDistribution and IUCN Red List status
Eurasian griffon vulture G. fulvus (Hablitz, 1783)5LC6
White-rumped vulture G. bengalensis (Gmelin, 1788)7India and Nepal, PakistanCR8
Cape vulture G. coprotheres (Forster, 1798)9Southern Africa

VU10

Indian vulture G. indicus (Scopoli, 1786)11Pakistan, India and NepalCR12
Slender-billed vulture G. tenuirostris Gray, 184413IndiaCR14
Rüppell's vulture G. rueppelli (Brehm, 1852)15Sahel and East AfricaCR16
White-backed vulture G. africanus Salvadori, 186517West and center, East, Southern AfricaCR18
Himalayan vulture G. himalayensis Hume, 186919NT20

Two fossil species have been described:

References

  1. Savigny, Marie Jules César (1809). Description de l'Égypte: Histoire naturelle (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: Imprimerie impériale. pp. 68, 71. /wiki/Marie_Jules_C%C3%A9sar_Savigny ↩

  2. Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 305. /wiki/Ernst_Mayr ↩

  3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 183. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4. 978-1-4081-2501-4 ↩

  4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2022). "Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors". IOC World Bird List Version 12.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 2 December 2022. /wiki/Frank_Gill_(ornithologist) ↩

  5. Hablitz, C. L. (1783). "Vultur fulvus Briss". Neue nordische Beyträge zur physikalischen und geographischen Erd- und Völkerbeschreibung, Naturgeschichte und Oekonomie. 4: 58–59. https://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/id/PPN332461483_0004?tify={%22pages%22:%5b62%5d,%22view%22:%22info%22} ↩

  6. BirdLife International (2017). "Gyps fulvus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22695219A118593677. /wiki/BirdLife_International ↩

  7. Gmelin, J. F. (1788). "Vultur bengalensis". Caroli a Linné, Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Vol. I (13th aucta, reformata ed.). Lipsiae: Georg Emanuel Beer. pp. 245–246. https://archive.org/details/carolialinnsyst00linngoog/page/n259/mode/2up ↩

  8. BirdLife International (2017). "Gyps bengalensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22695194A118307773. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695194/118307773 ↩

  9. Forster, J. R. (1798). "Le Chasse-siente, der Rothjäger. No. 10 (V. Coprotheres)". F. le Vaillant's Naturgeschichte der afrikanischen Vögel. Halle: Bey Fried. Christoph Dreyssig. pp. 35–37. https://archive.org/details/flevaillantsnatu00leva/page/n71/mode/2up ↩

  10. BirdLife International (2021). "Gyps coprotheres". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2021: e.T22695225A197073171. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22695225A197073171.en. Retrieved 10 December 2021. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695225/197073171 ↩

  11. Scopoli, J. A. (1786–88). "Aves". Deliciae Flora et Fauna Insubricae Ticini. An account including new descriptions of the birds and mammals collected by Pierre Sonnerat on his voyages. London: C. J. Clay. pp. 7–18. https://archive.org/details/cu31924005326800/page/n13/mode/2up ↩

  12. BirdLife International (2017). "Gyps indicus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22729731A117875047. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22729731/117875047 ↩

  13. Gray, G.R. (1844). "Vulturinae, or Vultures". The genera of birds : comprising their generic characters, a notice of the habits of each genus, and an extensive list of species referred to their several genera. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. pp. 5–6. https://archive.org/details/generabirdsIGray/page/6/mode/2up ↩

  14. BirdLife International (2017). "Gyps tenuirostris". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22729460A117367614. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22729460/117367614 ↩

  15. Brehm, A. (1852). "Beiträge zur Ornithologie Nord-Ost Afrikas, mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die in Europa vorkommenden Arten der Vögel". Naumannia. 2 (3): 38–51. https://archive.org/details/naumanniaarchivf02deut/page/44/mode/2up ↩

  16. BirdLife International (2017). "Gyps rueppelli". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T22695207A118595083. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695207/118595083 ↩

  17. Salvadori, T. (1865). "Descrizione di una nuova species d'Avoltojo (Gyps africana)". Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno d'Italia (126): 1. http://augusto.agid.gov.it/gazzette/index/download/id/1865126_PM ↩

  18. BirdLife International (2018). "Gyps africanus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2018: e.T22695189A126667006. /wiki/BirdLife_International ↩

  19. Hume, A. O. H. (1869). "Gyps fulvus, Gmel. (Gyps himalayensis, nobis.)". My scrap book: or rough notes on Indian oology and ornithology. Calcutta: C.B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press. pp. 12–18. https://archive.org/details/myscrapbookorrou00hume/page/12/mode/2up ↩

  20. BirdLife International (2016). "Gyps himalayensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22695215A118594518. https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/22695215/118594518 ↩

  21. Lydekker, R. (1890). "On the remains of some large extinct birds from the cavern-deposits of Malta". Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. 28 (III): 403–411. https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofgen90scie/page/404/mode/2up ↩

  22. Marco, A. S. (2007). "New occurrences of the extinct vulture Gyps melitensis (Falconiformes, Aves) and a reappraisal of the paleospecies". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 27 (4): 1057–1061. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[1057:NOOTEV]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 198131101. /wiki/Doi_(identifier) ↩

  23. Boev, Z. (2010). "Gyps bochenskii sp. n. (Aves: Falconiformes) from the Late Pliocene of Varshets (NW Bulgaria)". Acta Zoologica Bulgarica. 62 (2): 211–242. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/297836235 ↩