''Gyps'' is a
genus of
Old World vultures that was proposed by
Marie Jules César Savigny in 1809. Its members are sometimes known as griffon vultures. ''Gyps'' vultures have a slim head, a long slender neck with downy feathers, and a ruff around the neck formed by long buoyant feathers. The crown of their big beaks is a little compressed, and their big dark nostrils are set transverse to the beak. They have six or seven wing feathers, of which the first is the shortest and the fourth the longest.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Gyps'' was introduced in 1809 by the French zoologist
Marie Jules César Savigny to accommodate the
Eurasian griffon vulture. The genus name is from
Ancient Greek ''gups'' meaning "vultur". The genus contains eight extanct species.
Two fossil species have been described:
* † Maltese vulture ''G. melitensis''
Lydekker
Richard Lydekker (; 25 July 1849 – 16 April 1915) was an English naturalist, geologist and writer of numerous books on natural history.
Biography
Richard Lydekker was born at Tavistock Square in London. His father was Gerard Wolfe Lydekker, ...
, 1890 – Fossil remains were found in
Middle
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
* Middle Brook (disambiguation)
* Middle Creek (d ...
to
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of ...
sites all over the central and eastern
Mediterranean.
* † ''G. bochenskii'' Boev, 2010 – Fossil remains were found near
Varshets in northwestern
Bulgaria that were dated to the
Late Pliocene.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q126630
Bird genera
Taxa named by Marie Jules César Savigny