The first member of this genus to be formally described, the turkey vulture, was named by Linnaeus as Vultur aura in his Systema Naturae in 1758, but was eventually moved to the current genus which had been created by German zoologist Johann Illiger in 1811. Ĭathartes is the Greek word καθαρτής, for "purifier," referring to these vultures' role as "cleansers" that "tidy up" decomposing corpses in nature. There is one extinct species known from the Quaternary of Cuba.
The three extant species currently classified in this genus occur widely in the Americas. The genus Cathartes includes medium-sized to large carrion-feeding birds in the New World vulture (Cathartidae) family. Green indicates that at least one species is resident year-round and yellow shows areas where one species, the turkey vulture, is a summer-only breeding visitor. Approximate distribution of the genus Cathartes.
0 kommentar(er)
