| Buteoninae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Western red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis calurus) | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Accipitriformes |
| Family: | Accipitridae |
| Subfamily: | Buteoninae Vigors, 1825 |
| Genera | |
|
About 19, see article | |
The Buteoninae are a subfamily of birds of prey which consists of medium to large, broad-winged species.
They have large, powerful, hooked beaks for tearing flesh from their prey, strong legs, and powerful talons. They also have extremely keen eyesight to enable them to spot potential prey from a distance.
This subfamily contains the buzzards (buteonine hawks) with great diversity in appearance and form and some appearing eagle-like, with at least 50 species included overall in the subfamily. At one time, several types were grouped, including large assemblages such as booted eagles, but modern studies using mitochondrial DNA clarified that this subfamily was smaller than formerly classified.[1][2][3]
- ^ Lerner, H. R., Klaver, M. C., & Mindell, D. P. (2008). Molecular phylogenetics of the Buteonine birds of prey (Accipitridae). The Auk, 125(2), 304-315.
- ^ Lerner, H. R., & Mindell, D. P. (2005). Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 37(2), 327-346.
- ^ Lerner, H., Christidis, L., Gamauf, A., Griffiths, C., Haring, E., Huddleston, C. J., Kabra, S., Kocum, A., Krosby, M., Kvaloy, K., Mindell, D., Rasmussen, P., Rov, N., Wadleigh, R., Michael Wink & Gjershaug, J. O. (2017). Phylogeny and new taxonomy of the Booted Eagles (Accipitriformes: Aquilinae). Zootaxa 4216 (4), 301-320.