The genus ''Cathartes'' includes medium-sized to large scavenger, 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. ''Cathartes'' is the 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 Carl Linnaeus, Linnaeus as ''Vultur aura'' in his ''Systema Naturae'' in 1758, but was eventually moved to the current genus which had been created by German zoologist Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger, Johann Illiger in 1811. The yellow-headed birds first described in 1845 by John Cassin were not split into two species until 1964.

Systematics

''Cathartes'' is one of the five genera of New World vultures. The Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic placement of these vultures remains unclear.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
''A classification of the bird species of South America.''
South American Classification Committee] 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 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. In 2007 the American Ornithologists' Union's North American checklist moved Cathartidae back into the lead position in 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". The AOU's draft South American checklist places the Cathartidae in their own order, Cathartiformes. 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 Accipitriformes instead, a position adopted in 2010 by the AOU's North American check-list, and shared with the International Ornithological Congress.

Species

The genus ''Cathartes'' has three recognized extant species: One Extinction, extinct species, Emslie's vulture (''C. emsliei'') is known from Holocene, Late Quaternary fossil remains from Cuba, and it likely went extinct following the extinction of the megafauna whose carrion it would have fed on during the Quaternary extinction event, coupled with the subsequent loss of the savanna habitats it would have favored.

Description

All ''Cathartes'' species have featherless heads with brightly colored skin, yellow to orange in the yellow-headed vultures, bright red in the 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

{{Taxonbar, from=Q859043 Cathartes, Bird genera Birds of prey of South America, *