Kite Information and Species Listing ... Kites Photo Gallery
Birds of Prey ... The Sport of Falconry
Milvus is a genus of medium-sized birds of prey. It is an Old World group consisting of three kites which form part of the subfamily Milvinae.
Sub-species:
Its systematics are under revision; it contains 3 or 4 species.
- Red Kite, Milvus milvus
- Cape Verde Kite, Milvus (milvus) fasciicauda – extinct (2000)
- Black Kite, Milvus migrans
- Black-eared Kite, Milvus (migrans) lineatus
- Yellow-billed Kite, Milvus (migrans) aegyptius
Allozyme data indicates that the genetic diversity in both Black and Red Kites is rather low (Schreiber et al. 2000). Successful hybridization between Milvus kites is fairly commonplace, making mtDNA analyses unreliable to resolve the genus' phylogeny. Furthermore, there is no good correlation between molecular characters and biogeography and morphology in the Red Kite due to very incomplete lineage sorting.
The Yellow-billed Kite is apparently a good species, as indicated by mtDNA phylogeny, biogeography, and morphology. The Black-eared Kite is somewhat distinct morphologically, but is better considered a well-marked parapatric subspecies. The status of the Cape Verde Kite is in doubt; while not a completely monophyletic lineage according to mtDNA data, it is still best regarded as a distinct species. Whatever its status, this population is extinct.
A prehistoric kite from the Early Pleistocene (1.8 million – 780,000 years ago) deposits at Ubeidiya (Israel) was described as Milvus pygmaeus.
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from ... Additional information and photos added by Avianweb.
Please Note: The articles or images on this page are the sole property of the authors or photographers. Please contact them directly with respect to any copyright or licensing questions. Thank you.
BeautyOfBirds strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. THANK YOU!