View source for Biology:Cathartes

{{Short description|Genus of birds}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Cathartes aura in California1.jpg
| image_caption = Turkey vulture in Morro Bay, California
| taxon = Cathartes
| authority = Illiger, 1811
| type_species = ''[[Biology:Turkey vulture|Vultur aura]]''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vigors |first1=N. A. |title=Sketches in Ornithology; or, Observations on the leading Affinities of some of the more extensive groups of Birds. On the Groups of the Vulturidæ |journal=The Zoological Journal |date=1825 |volume=2 |issue=7 |page=384 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2255648}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author1=International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature |title=Opinion 67. One Hundred and Two Bird Names Placed in the Official List of Generic Names |journal=Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature |date=1958 |volume=1 |issue=B |pages=177–182 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/34612864 |orig-year=1916}}</ref>
| type_species_authority=Linnaeus, 1758
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = * ''C. aura'' <small>([[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[Biology:10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])</small> <br/>
* ''C. burrovianus'' <small>Cassin, 1845</small>
* ''C. melambrotus'' <small>Wetmore, 1964</small>
| range_map = Turkeyvulturerange.jpg
| range_map_caption = Approximate distribution of the genus ''Cathartes''. 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.
}}

The genus '''''Cathartes''''' includes medium-sized to large [[Earth:Scavenger|carrion-feeding]] birds in the [[Biology:New World vulture|New World vulture]] (Cathartidae) family. The three extant species currently classified in this [[Biology:Genus|genus]] occur widely in the [[Earth:Americas|Americas]]. There is one extinct species known from the [[Earth:Quaternary|Quaternary]] of Cuba.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last1=Suárez|first1=William|last2=Olson|first2=Storrs L.|date=2020-09-21|title=A new fossil vulture (Cathartidae: Cathartes) from Quaternary asphalt and cave deposits in Cuba|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=140|issue=3|pages=335–343|doi=10.25226/bboc.v140i3.2020.a6|issn=0007-1595|doi-access=free}}</ref>

''Cathartes'' is the [[Social:Ancient Greek|Greek]] word καθαρτής, for "purifier," referring to these vultures' role as "cleansers" that "tidy up" decomposing corpses in nature.

== Taxonomy ==

=== Description ===
The first member of this genus to be formally described, the turkey vulture, was named by [[Biography:Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] as ''Vultur aura'' in his ''[[Biology:Systema Naturae|Systema Naturae]]'' in 1758,<ref>{{cite book|last=Linnaeus|first=Carolus|title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata.|publisher=Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii).|year=1758|pages=86|language=la|author-link=Carl Linnaeus}}</ref> but was eventually moved to the current genus which had been created by German zoologist Johann Illiger in 1811.<ref name="illiger">{{cite book|last=Illiger|first=Johann|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_I9sTAAAAQAAJ|title=Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium|publisher=Berolini: Sumptibus C. Salfeld|year=1811|pages=236}}</ref> The yellow-headed birds first described in 1845 by John Cassin were not split into two species until 1964.<ref name="Cassin">{{cite journal|last=Cassin|first=John|title=[untitled]|journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia|volume=2|issue=8|pages=212|quote=Near Veracruz, Mexico.}}</ref><ref name="wetmore">{{cite journal|last=Wetmore|first=Alexander|year=1964|title=A revision of the American vultures of the genus ''Cathartes''|journal=Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections|volume=146|issue=6|page=15}}</ref>

=== Systematics ===
''Cathartes'' is one of the five genera of [[Biology:New World vulture|New World vulture]]s. The [[Biology:Taxonomy|taxonomic]] placement of these vultures  remains unclear.<ref name="SACC">Remsen, J. V. Jr.; C. D. Cadena; A. Jaramillo; M. Nores; J. F. Pacheco; M. B. Robbins; T. S. Schulenberg; F. G. Stiles; D. F. Stotz & K. J. Zimmer (2007) [http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html  ''A classification of the bird species of South America.''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302073659/http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.html |date=March 2, 2009 }} South American Classification Committee]</ref> It is the only genus in its family that is not monotypic. The New World and Old World vultures are similar in appearance and have similar [[Biology:Ecological niche|ecological roles]], but evolved from different ancestors in widely separated parts of the world. The relationships between the two vulture groups is a matter of debate, with some earlier authorities suggesting that the New World vultures are more closely related to storks.<ref>Sibley, Charles G. and Burt L. Monroe (1990)  ''[https://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0300049692 Distribution and Taxonomy of the Birds of the World]''. Yale University Press. {{ISBN|0-300-04969-2}}</ref>

In 2007 the American Ornithologists' Union's North American checklist moved Cathartidae back into the lead position in [[Biology:Falconiformes|Falconiformes]], but with an asterisk that indicates it is a taxon "that is probably misplaced in the current phylogenetic listing but for which data indicating proper placement are not yet available".<ref>American Ornithologists' Union (2009)</ref>  The AOU's draft South American checklist places the Cathartidae in their own order, Cathartiformes.<ref>Remsen ''et al.'' (2008)</ref> However, recent DNA study on the evolutionary relationships between bird groups also suggests that they are related to the other birds of prey and should be part of a new order [[Biology:Accipitriformes|Accipitriformes]] instead,<ref>Hackett ''et al.'' (2008)</ref> a position adopted in 2010 by the AOU's North American check-list,<ref>American Ornithologists' Union (2010)</ref> and shared with the [[Organization:International Ornithological Congress|International Ornithological Congress]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/raptors/ |title=IOC World Bird List |version=14.1 |access-date=25 January 2024 |author=International Ornithological Congress |publisher=IOC}}</ref>

=== Species ===

The genus ''Cathartes'' has three recognized extant species:<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS|id=175264 |taxon=Cathartes |access-date=15 May 2011}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
{{Species table |genus=[[Biology:Cathartes|Cathartes]] |authority-name= Illiger |authority-year= 1811 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row
|name= Turkey vulture|binomial=Cathartes aura
|image=File:Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) Orange Walk.jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year= 1758 |authority-not-original=yes
|range=the Americas from southern Canada to Cape Horn
|range-image=File:Turkeyvulturerange.jpg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population= 18,000,000<ref>Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, J. E. Fallon, K. L. Pardieck Jr. Ziolkowski, D. J. and W. A. Link. ''The North American Breeding Bird Survey, results and analysis 1966-2013'' (Version 1.30.15). USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (2014b). Available from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609035457/http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/bbs/ |date=2012-06-09 }}</ref>
|direction=
|subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Five subspecies |bullets=on
|''C. a. aura''
|''C. a. jota'' {{small|Molina, GI 1782}}
|''C. a. meridionalis'' {{small|Swann, 1921}}
|''C. a. ruficollis'' {{small| Spix, 1824}}
|''C. a. septentrionalis'' {{small|Wied-Neuwied, 1839}}
}}
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= Lesser yellow-headed vulture|binomial=Cathartes burrovianus
|image=File:Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) (28695241483).jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Cassin |authority-year= 1845   |authority-not-original=
|range=  Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela
|range-image=File:Cathartes burrovianus distribution.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/row
|name= Greater yellow-headed vulture|binomial=Cathartes melambrotus
|image=File:Great Yellow-headed Vulture.jpg |image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Wetmore |authority-year= 1964 |authority-not-original=
|range=  South America
|range-image=File:Cathartes melambrotus map.svg
|range-image-size=180px
|size= 
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
|population=between 100,000 and 1,000,000<ref name="birdlife">{{cite web|author=BirdLife International |year=2024 |website=BLI Datazone |url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/greater-yellow-headed-vulture-cathartes-melambrotus |title=Greater Yellow-headed Vulture ''Cathartes melambrotus''}}</ref>
|direction=
|subspecies=
}}

{{Species table/end}}


One [[Biology:Extinction|extinct]] species, Emslie's vulture (''C. emsliei'') is known from [[Earth:Holocene|Late Quaternary]] [[Biology:Fossil|fossil]] remains from Cuba, and it likely went extinct following the extinction of the [[Biology:Megafauna|megafauna]] whose [[Earth:Carrion|carrion]] it would have fed on during the [[Earth:Quaternary|Quaternary]] extinction event, coupled with the subsequent loss of the [[Earth:Savanna|savanna]] habitats it would have favored.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Suárez|first1=William|last2=Olson|first2=Storrs L.|date=September 2020|title=A new fossil vulture (Cathartidae: ''Cathartes'') from Quaternary asphalt and cave deposits in Cuba|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=140|issue=3|pages=335–343|doi=10.25226/bboc.v140i3.2020.a6|issn=0007-1595|doi-access=free}}</ref>

== Description ==
All ''Cathartes'' species have featherless heads with brightly colored skin, yellow to orange in the yellow-headed vultures, bright red in the [[Biology:Turkey vulture|turkey vulture]]. All three species share a well-developed sense of smell, which is rare in birds, that enables them to locate carrion under the canopy.

== Distribution and habitat ==

The vultures of ''Cathartes'' mosty occupy forests of the Americas, especially Mexico, Central America, and South America.

== Ecology and behaviour ==

While all species obtain most of their diet by scavenging, the lesser yellow-headed vulture is known to hunt live prey in wetland environments.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}


<!-- New World vultures -->

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[[Category:Cathartes| ]]
[[Category:Bird genera]]

{{Sourceattribution|Cathartes}}