Editing Lesser spotted eagle (section)

==Taxonomy and evolution==
[[File:Lesserspoteagle.JPG|thumb|A drawing of a lesser spotted eagle]]
The birds formerly considered to be the resident [[India]]n [[subspecies]] are now considered a separate [[species]], the [[Indian spotted eagle]] (''Clanga hastata''), quite distinct and readily separable by [[morphology (biology)|morphological]], [[behavior]]al, [[ecology|ecological]], and [[DNA sequence]] data. The European [[taxon]] is actually closer to the greater spotted eagle; their common ancestor seems to have diverged around the middle [[Pliocene]], perhaps some 3.6 million years ago,<ref name=ValiNote/> from the ancestors of the Indian birds. The "proto-spotted eagle" probably lived in the general region of [[Afghanistan]], being split into a northern and a southern lineage when both [[glaciers]] and [[desert]]s advanced in Central Asia as the [[Last glacial period|last ice age]] began. The northern lineage subsequently separated into the eastern (greater) and western (lesser) species of today, probably around the Pliocene-[[Pleistocene]] boundary not quite 2 million years ago.<ref name=Parry2002/><ref name=Rasmussen2005/><ref name=Vali2006/>

The present species [[Hybrid (biology)|hybridizes]] occasionally with the greater spotted eagle. Hybrid birds are almost impossible to identify if not seen up close.<ref name=Vali2004/>