Milvus

Milvus is a genus of medium-sized birds of prey. The genus was erected by the French naturalist Bernard Germain de Lacépède in 1799 with the red kite as the type species.<ref>Template:Cite book Page numbering starts at one for each of the three sections.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The name is the Latin word for the red kite.<ref name=Jobling>Template:Cite book</ref>

The genus Milvus has in the past been placed in the subfamily Milvinae but molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that such a grouping is polyphyletic for Buteoninae. It is now placed in the subfamily Buteoninae.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=catanach>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Species

The genus contains three species.<ref name=ioc>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:Species table

Allozyme data indicates that the genetic diversity in both black and red kites is rather low.<ref>Schreiber, Arnd; Stubbe, Michael & Stubbe, Annegret (2000): Red kite (Milvus milvus) and black kite (M. migrans): minute genetic interspecies distance of two raptors breeding in a mixed community (Falconiformes: Accipitridae). Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 69'(3): 351–365. {{#invoke:doi|main}} (HTML abstract) </ref> 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 separate species, as indicated by mtDNA phylogeny showing two supported clades,<ref name=Johnson>Johnson, Jeff A.; Rick T. Watson, and David P. Mindell (7 July 2005). Prioritizing species conservation: does the Cape Verde kite exist?. Proc Biol Sci. (The Royal Society) 272 (7): 1365–1371. [1]</ref> biogeography,<ref name = "Scheider"/> and morphology.<ref name = "Scheider"/> 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,<ref name=Johnson/> 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.

Further reading

• Crochet, Pierre-André (2005): Recent DNA studies of kites. Birding World 18(12): 486–488. HTML section list

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