White-Rumped Falcon

About the White-Rumped Falcon

The white-rumped falcon (Neohierax insignis) is a species of bird of prey in the family Falconidae native to Indochina. It is placed in its own monotypic genus, Neohierax. Philip Sclater, secretary of the Zoological Society of London, presented two skins at the meeting of 7 November 1871, on behalf of the society's president Arthur Hay, Viscount Walden. A brief account of this presentation was published in 1872, becoming the first formal description of the species.

In 1922, Harry Kirke Swann proposed a new monotypic genus for this bird, Neohierax. During the 20th century, most taxonomic authorities retained it in Polyhierax, though Brown and Amadon supported separating the two genera. Phylogenetic analyses of morphological characteristics found the white-rumped falcon to be basal to the Falco clade, but separate from the clade containing the pygmy falcon (or African pigmy falcon, Polihierax semitorquatus) and Microhierax (falconets or pigmy falcons).

Research in molecular genetics has also found that the white-rumped falcon is more closely related to the Falco falcons than it is to the pygmy falcon, and indicates two major clades within the extant members... Wikipedia →