Cuban kite

Cuban kite
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Accipitriformes
Family:Accipitridae
Genus:Chondrohierax
Species: C. wilsonii
Binomial name
Chondrohierax wilsonii
(Cassin, 1847)

The Cuban kite (Chondrohierax wilsonii) is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles and harriers. It is endemic to Cuba.

This species is classified as critically endangered by BirdLife International and the IUCN. The current population is estimated 50 to 249 mature birds. In the last 40 years the species has only been observed a handful of times with the latest published sighting in 2010 in Alejandro de Humboldt National Park.[1]

The Clements Checklist and the AOU consider it as subspecies of the hook-billed kite. A molecular phylogenetics analysis using mitochondrial DNA suggests that it warrants species status having diverged from the mainland lineage approximately 400,000 to 1.5 million years ago.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2013). "Chondrohierax wilsonii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Jeff A.; Thorstrom, Russell; Mindell, David P. (2007). "Systematics and conservation of the hook-billed kite including the island taxa from Cuba and Grenada" (PDF). Animal Conservation. 10: 349–359. doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2007.00118.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-10-16.


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