Sagittariidae is a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of raptor with one living

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

—the

secretarybird The secretarybird or secretary bird (''Sagittarius serpentarius'') is a large bird of prey that is Endemism, endemic to Africa. It is mostly terrestrial, spending most of its time on the ground, and is usually found in the open grasslands and s ...

(''Sagittarius serpentarius'') native to Africa—and a few fossil taxa. This single extant species has affected the fossil record of the group by ‘pulling’ the temporal range of the family to the present, an artifact called the Pull of the recent. German naturalists

Otto Finsch Friedrich Hermann Otto Finsch (8 August 1839, Warmbrunn – 31 January 1917, Braunschweig) was a German ethnographer, natural history, naturalist and colonial explorer. He is known for a two-volume monograph on the parrots of the world which earne ...

and

Gustav Hartlaub Karel Johan Gustav Hartlaub (8 November 1814 – 29 November 1900) was a German physician and ornithologist. Hartlaub was born in Bremen, and studied at Bonn and Berlin before graduating in medicine at Göttingen. In 1840, he began to study and ...

established the taxon name as a subfamily—Sagittariinae—in 1870. Although their term postdated Gypogeranidae of Vigors (1825) and Serpentariidae of Selys Longchamps (1842), the genus name ''Sagittarius'' (described in 1783) had priority over ''Gypogeranus'' Illiger, 1811 and ''Serpentarius''

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

, 1798.

Genera

There are at least four genera: * †''

Amanuensis An amanuensis ( ) ( ) or scribe is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. It may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority. In some aca ...

'' Mourer-Chauviré, 2003 * †'' Amphiserpentarius'' Gaillard, 1908 * †'' Pelargopappus'' Stejneger, 1885 * '' Sagittarius'' Hermann,1783 The genus '' Pelargopappus'' is known from Miocene deposits in France. The genus ''

'' is known from Miocene deposits in Africa.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2346527 Bird families Birds of prey Oligocene first appearances Accipitriformes Taxa named by Otto Finsch Taxa named by Gustav Hartlaub