| Cathartes | |
|---|---|
| |
| Turkey vulture in Morro Bay, California | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Cathartidae |
| Genus: | Cathartes Illiger, 1811 |
| Type species | |
| Vultur aura[1][2] Linnaeus, 1758
| |
| Species | |
| |
| |
| 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 carrion-feeding birds in the New World vulture (Cathartidae) family. The three extant species currently classified in this genus occur widely in the Americas. There is one extinct species known from the Quaternary of Cuba.[3]
Cathartes is the Greek word καθαρτής, for "purifier," referring to these vultures' role as "cleansers" that "tidy up" decomposing corpses in nature.
- ^ Vigors, N. A. (1825). "Sketches in Ornithology; or, Observations on the leading Affinities of some of the more extensive groups of Birds. On the Groups of the Vulturidæ". The Zoological Journal. 2 (7): 384.
- ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1958) [1916]. "Opinion 67. One Hundred and Two Bird Names Placed in the Official List of Generic Names". Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. 1 (B): 177–182.
- ^ Suárez, William; Olson, Storrs L. (2020-09-21). "A new fossil vulture (Cathartidae: Cathartes) from Quaternary asphalt and cave deposits in Cuba". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 140 (3): 335–343. doi:10.25226/bboc.v140i3.2020.a6. ISSN 0007-1595.