''Aegypius'' is a genus of
Old World vultures found in the subfamily
Aegypiinae. Of the three species in the genus, only the
cinereous vulture is extant. The cinereous vulture (''Aegypius monachus'') is a creature that is hard to find as it is “a near threatened raptor that occurs in isolated populations across its range” (Çakmak). There were studies being conducted on the cinereous vulture and it indicates “that the Turkish birds hold, along with those from the Caucasus, an intermediate position between European (Balkan and Iberian) and North Asian (Mongolian) lineages” (Çakmak). The genus name ''Aegypius'' is a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
word (αἰγυπιός) for 'vulture', or a bird not unlike one;
Aelian describes the ''aegypius'' as "halfway between a vulture (''gyps'') and an eagle". Some authorities think this a good description of a
lammergeier; others do not.
Aegypius is the
eponym
An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...
of the species, whatever it was.
[
The only extant species from this genus is the cinereous vulture or ''Aegypius monachus''. This vulture is one of the largest birds of prey and it plays a huge role in its various ecosystems by eating carcasses, and which in turn reduces the spread of diseases.]
References
Further reading
*''Genetic diversity is retained in a bottlenecked Cinereous Vulture population in Turkey'' E Çakmak, Çİ Akin Pekşen, Cİİ Kİrazli, Eİ Yamaç, S Bensch, CC Bilgin ''Ibis'' 161 (4), 793-805 6 2019
*''Extremely low mitochondrial DNA diversity in a near threatened species, the Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus in Turkey'' E Çakmak, ÇA Pekçen, C Kirazlı, E Yamaç, CC Bilgin ''Ardea'' 107 (1), 85-92
{{Taxonbar, from=Q13428439
Bird genera
Bird genera with one living species
Taxa named by Marie Jules César Savigny