{{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{automatic taxobox | image = PikiWiki Israel 43227 Wildlife and Plants of Israel.JPG | image_caption = [[Short-toed snake eagle]] (''Circaetus gallicus'') | taxon = Circaetus | authority = [[Louis Pierre Vieillot|Vieillot]], 1816 | type_species = ''[[short-toed snake eagle|Falco gallicus]]'' | type_species_authority= [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin|Gmelin]], 1788 }}
'''''Circaetus''''', the '''snake eagles''', is a genus of medium-sized [[eagle]]s in the [[bird of prey]] family [[Accipitridae]]. They are mainly resident [[Africa]]n species, but the [[bird migration|migratory]] [[short-toed snake eagle]] breeds from the [[Mediterranean]] basin into [[Russia]], the [[Middle East]] and [[India]], and winters in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] and east to [[Indonesia]].
Snake eagles are found in open habitats like cultivated plains and arid savanna, but require trees in which to build a stick nest. The single egg is incubated mainly or entirely by the female.
''Circaetus'' eagles have a rounded head and broad wings. They prey on [[reptile]]s, mainly [[snake]]s (hence the common name), but also take [[lizard]]s and occasionally small [[mammal]]s.
==Taxonomy and species== The genus ''Circaetus'' was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] to accommodate a single species, the [[short-toed snake eagle]], which is therefore considered the [[type species]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Vieillot | first=Louis Pierre | author-link=Louis Pierre Vieillot | year=1816 | title=Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire | publisher=Deterville/self | location=Paris | page = 23 | language=French| url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9745205x/f29.item }}<!--BHL has a scan of an 1883 reprint - same pagination http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/12830237 --></ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=309 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108949 }}</ref> The genus name is from the [[Ancient Greek]] ''kirkos'', a type of hawk, and ''aetos'', "eagle".<ref name=job>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n108 108]}}</ref>
The genus contains seven species.<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=February 2025 | title=Hoatzin, New World vultures, Secretarybird, raptors | work=IOC World Bird List Version 15.1 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/raptors/| publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=21 March 2025 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Image !! Common name !! Scientific name !! Distribution |- |[[File:Western banded snake eagle (Circaetus cinerascens).jpg|120px]] || [[Western banded snake eagle]] || ''Circaetus cinerascens'' || Senegal and Gambia to west Ethiopia and south to Namibia and Zimbabwe |- | [[File:Circaetus fasciolatus, Chiboma, Sofala, Birding Weto, a.jpg|120px]]|| [[Southern banded snake eagle]] || ''Circaetus fasciolatus'' || Kenya to northeast South Africa |- |[[File:DryotriorchisSpectabilisSmit.jpg|120px]] || [[Congo serpent eagle]] || ''Circaetus spectabilis'' || West and central Africa |- |[[File:Flickr - Rainbirder - Beaudouin's Snake Eagle (Circaetus beaudouini).jpg|120px]] || [[Beaudouin's snake eagle]] ||''Circaetus beaudouini'' || Senegal to South Sudan, northwest Kenya and Uganda |- |[[File:Black-chested snake-eagle (Circaetus pectoralis).jpg|120px]] || [[Black-chested snake eagle]] ||''Circaetus pectoralis'' || east Sudan and Ethiopia to South Africa |- |[[File:Short-toed Snake Eagle perched.jpg|120px]] || [[Short-toed snake eagle]] ||''Circaetus gallicus'' || southwest Europe to central Asia, northwest China and India; [[Lesser Sunda Islands]] |- |[[File:Brown snake eagle, Kruger National Park (38184851511).jpg|120px]] || [[Brown snake eagle]] ||''Circaetus cinereus'' || Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia and south to South Africa |- |}
== Fossil record== ''Circaetus rhodopensis'' (late Miocene of Bulgaria)<ref>Boev, Z. 2012. ''Circaetus rhodopensis'' sp. n. (Aves, Accipitriformes) from the Late Miocene of Hadzhidimovo (SW Bulgaria). - Acta zoologica bulgarica, 64 (1): 5-12.</ref>
''Circaetus haemusensis'' (early Pleistocene of Bulgaria)<ref>Boev, Z. 2015. An Early Pleistocene Snake-eagle (''Circaetus haemusensis'' sp. n. - Aves, Accipitriformes) from Varshets (NW Bulgaria). – Acta zoologica bulgarica. 67 (1), 2015: 127-138.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Accipitrimorphae|A.|state=collapsed}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q867544}}
[[Category:Circaetus| ]] [[Category:Bird genera]] [[Category:Birds of prey of Africa| ]] [[Category:Eagles]] [[Category:Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot]]