111-691: Aquila clanga The greater spotted eagle ( Clanga clanga ), also called the spotted eagle , is a large migratory bird of prey in the family Accipitridae . It is a member of the subfamily Aquilinae , commonly known as "booted eagles". It was once classified as a member of the genus Aquila , but has been reclassified to the distinct genus Clanga , along with the two other species of spotted eagle. During breeding season, greater spotted eagles are widely distributed across Eastern Europe, parts of Central Europe, central Russia, central Asia and parts of China, along with other isolated areas. During winter, they migrate , primarily to South Asia, Southeast Asia,
222-452: A Western Siberia breeding area) was found to utilize an average home range in winter of 65 km (25 sq mi), which contracted 24% before it migrated in the spring, taking from late February to late April to migrate over 5,500 km (3,400 mi). Wintertime territory in Spain was found to be smaller, at 27.2 km (10.5 sq mi). The southernmost migration record of
333-415: A bush , utility pole , or steep riverbank . It is not uncommon for greater spotted eagles to forage from the ground, or rest there in a somewhat hunched posture. Adult greater spotted eagles are generally a rather uniform dark to blackish brown, though the coloration may appear purplish and glossy. They may appear more starkly contrasted when freshly moulted . The upperwing covert feathers are often
444-541: A clutch of one to three eggs. The female of a pair incubates and broods the young while the male hunts and delivers prey. Parents rarely raise more than one fledgling per year. As is common among a few species of raptors, the oldest chick is much larger than its younger siblings, and will often attack and kill the younger siblings. The greater spotted eagle's range overlaps with the closely-related lesser spotted eagle ( Clanga pomarina ). The two species are known to breed together frequently, forming hybrid offspring , which
555-429: A monophyletic group within the larger Accipitridae family. All booted eagles have feathers covering their legs. Members of this diverse, wide-ranging family may be found on every continent except Antarctica . Thirty-eight species of booted eagle are recognized. Booted eagles are often grouped with the genera Buteo and Haliaeetus , and other more heavy-set Accipitridae , but they may be more closely related to
666-566: A species complex or clade . The spotted eagles were ultimately reclassified as a distinct genus, Clanga , due to overwhelming genetic evidence and large divergences in morphology and ecology between spotted eagles and their sister taxa. The scientific name Clanga may derive from Ancient Greek κλαγγή ( lit. ' scream ' ), or its root may be the Greek word klangos (a variant form of plangos ) for "a kind of eagle" as mentioned by Aristotle . Extensive hybridization between
777-728: A bacterial genome over three types of outbreak contact networks—homogeneous, super-spreading, and chain-like. They summarized the resulting phylogenies with five metrics describing tree shape. Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the distributions of these metrics across the three types of outbreaks, revealing clear differences in tree topology depending on the underlying host contact network. Super-spreader networks give rise to phylogenies with higher Colless imbalance, longer ladder patterns, lower Δw, and deeper trees than those from homogeneous contact networks. Trees from chain-like networks are less variable, deeper, more imbalanced, and narrower than those from other networks. Scatter plots can be used to visualize
888-616: A broad strip across southern Siberia reaching well into the Amur region. Their range outside Russia includes much of northern Kazakhstan , with isolated breeding areas known in the East Kazakhstan Region and in southern Kazakhstan. Greater spotted eagles also breed in an isolated area reaching from Kyrgyzstan and adjacent areas of Russia down to Xinjiang in China . At times, greater spotted eagles have been known to breed in
999-859: A day. The flight speeds of migrating eagles of the species was documented as 26.6–45.5 km/h (16.5–28.3 mph) in the Baikal region, with peak movements times from noon to 6:00 PM. There is limited information on discrepancies in how different ages and sexes migrate. Fewer numbers are generally recorded in spring migration compared to autumn migration. Generally, migrants of the species move on broad fronts in singles or pairs, but groups as large as 10 have been seen northbound over Bhutan in late February. In Malaysia, immatures outnumbered adults six to one. At Lake Baikal , 96% of migrating greater spotted eagles were observed to be adults, an imbalance that concerned researchers. Greater spotted eagles tend to be scarce at traditional migratory bottlenecks such as Bosphorus and
1110-499: A disproof of a previously widely accepted theory. During the late 19th century, Ernst Haeckel 's recapitulation theory , or "biogenetic fundamental law", was widely popular. It was often expressed as " ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny", i.e. the development of a single organism during its lifetime, from germ to adult, successively mirrors the adult stages of successive ancestors of the species to which it belongs. But this theory has long been rejected. Instead, ontogeny evolves –
1221-653: A few in Morocco, Egypt, the Nile Valley , Sudan , Ethiopia , and occasionally points further south. Birds from various origin sites may end up in the Middle East (mainly Arabia), South Asia (from Pakistan, most often Punjab and Sind, northern India, and Nepal), east to Indochina, the Malay Peninsula, and southern and eastern China. Greater spotted eagles on an Eastern European track predominantly migrate to
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#17327873938281332-593: A greater spotted eagle was one that traveled 9,270 km (5,760 mi) from the Biebrza National Park in Poland to Zambia in southern Africa . Several other purportedly greater spotted eagles were tracked to several areas of Africa, but nearly half were actually hybrids with lesser spotted eagles and were migrating in more typical fashion and location to that species. Improbably, at least seven records show immature greater spotted eagles staying through
1443-414: A harsh chrr-chrr-chaa-chaa , kyak-yak-yak , and kyew-kyew-kyew . The cumulative effect of the repeated call has been compared to that of a "small hound ". As with many raptors, the female’s tone is lower pitched and hoarser. One individual greater spotted eagle recorded over two days was found to utter an unusual ringing call that sounded remarkably similar to the first two syllables of the typical call of
1554-536: A language as an evolutionary system. The evolution of human language closely corresponds with human's biological evolution which allows phylogenetic methods to be applied. The concept of a "tree" serves as an efficient way to represent relationships between languages and language splits. It also serves as a way of testing hypotheses about the connections and ages of language families. For example, relationships among languages can be shown by using cognates as characters. The phylogenetic tree of Indo-European languages shows
1665-830: A lowland bird. However, they have been recorded at elevations up to 4,000 m (13,000 ft) in northern Iran. One greater spotted eagle was recorded on migration at 4,370 m (14,340 ft) in Ladakh in the Himalayas . Greater spotted eagles are almost entirely migratory birds . However, they are not considered long-distance migrants compared to other birds of prey. They migrate between late August to October, occasionally lasting into November. The return flight typically starts in early February, peaking in March and ending in April. However, migration has been documented well into May, near
1776-603: A maximum of 85 has been recorded in northern Israel in autumn. An adult captured near Mecca in western Saudi Arabia in late October was radiotracked 850 km (530 mi) to Yemen , where it remained from late November until early February, before returning 5,526 km (3,434 mi) via southern Iraq, across the Iranian highlands, skirting the south edge of the Aral Sea , and finally flying to its Siberian breeding area near Omsk , covering 4,516 km (2,806 mi) of
1887-411: A near 5% size difference in favor of Indian wintering birds over Middle Eastern ones. The greater spotted eagle is a medium-sized eagle , but also a large raptor . This species shows strong sexual dimorphism in favor of the female in size, though the plumage is similar between sexes. The size difference is up to 26% linearly, and females can be as much as twice as heavy as the males, making them rival
1998-510: A number of oceanic island groups. Some species are migratory . The family contains 256 species which are divided into 12 subfamilies and 75 genera . Many well-known birds such as hawks , eagles , kites , harriers and Old World vultures are included in this group. The osprey is usually placed in a separate family ( Pandionidae ), as is the secretary bird ( Sagittariidae ), and the New World vultures are also usually now regarded as
2109-417: A phylogenetic tree can be living taxa or fossils , which represent the present time or "end" of an evolutionary lineage, respectively. A phylogenetic diagram can be rooted or unrooted. A rooted tree diagram indicates the hypothetical common ancestor of the tree. An unrooted tree diagram (a network) makes no assumption about the ancestral line, and does not show the origin or "root" of the taxa in question or
2220-453: A separate family or order. Karyotype data indicate the accipitrids analysed are indeed a distinct monophyletic group. In the past the accipitrids have been variously divided into some five to ten subfamilies . Most share a very similar morphology , but many of these groups contain taxa that are more aberrant. These were placed in their respective position more for lack of better evidence than anything else. The phylogenetic layout of
2331-543: A shade paler than the rest, though these eagles generally appear uniformly dark with two contrasting features: a pale beak and a narrow white U above the tail, though the latter is usually concealed at rest. The species is sexually dimorphic or even polymorphic . Pale and intermediate phenotypes are rare, although they can be slightly more common in eastern ranges. Pale adults, sometimes referred to as Clanga clanga fulvescens , have bicolored plumage. The tail, flight feathers , and greater wing coverts are all blackish, with
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#17327873938282442-700: A shared evolutionary history. There are debates if increasing the number of taxa sampled improves phylogenetic accuracy more than increasing the number of genes sampled per taxon. Differences in each method's sampling impact the number of nucleotide sites utilized in a sequence alignment, which may contribute to disagreements. For example, phylogenetic trees constructed utilizing a more significant number of total nucleotides are generally more accurate, as supported by phylogenetic trees' bootstrapping replicability from random sampling. The graphic presented in Taxon Sampling, Bioinformatics, and Phylogenomics , compares
2553-462: A significant source of error within phylogenetic analysis occurs due to inadequate taxon samples. Accuracy may be improved by increasing the number of genetic samples within its monophyletic group. Conversely, increasing sampling from outgroups extraneous to the target stratified population may decrease accuracy. Long branch attraction is an attributed theory for this occurrence, where nonrelated branches are incorrectly classified together, insinuating
2664-487: A single (not double) whitish crescent at the base of primaries. In fulvescens (pale) morph adults, most of the wing coverts on both surfaces and body are contrastingly buffy to tawny. Juveniles on the wing normally appear very dark with liberal spotting above and below, though some juveniles appear with spots restricted to wings, scapulars, and trousers. All juveniles, when seen well, show characteristic white end spots on wing coverts forming two to three wing bars. Otherwise,
2775-631: A single tree with true claim. The same process can be applied to texts and manuscripts. In Paleography , the study of historical writings and manuscripts, texts were replicated by scribes who copied from their source and alterations - i.e., 'mutations' - occurred when the scribe did not precisely copy the source. Phylogenetics has been applied to archaeological artefacts such as the early hominin hand-axes, late Palaeolithic figurines, Neolithic stone arrowheads, Bronze Age ceramics, and historical-period houses. Bayesian methods have also been employed by archaeologists in an attempt to quantify uncertainty in
2886-594: A small group of taxa to represent the evolutionary history of its broader population. This process is also known as stratified sampling or clade-based sampling. The practice occurs given limited resources to compare and analyze every species within a target population. Based on the representative group selected, the construction and accuracy of phylogenetic trees vary, which impacts derived phylogenetic inferences. Unavailable datasets, such as an organism's incomplete DNA and protein amino acid sequences in genomic databases, directly restrict taxonomic sampling. Consequently,
2997-592: A species to uncover either a higher abundance of important bioactive compounds (e.g., species of Taxus for taxol) or natural variants of known pharmaceuticals (e.g., species of Catharanthus for different forms of vincristine or vinblastine). Phylogenetic analysis has also been applied to biodiversity studies within the fungi family. Phylogenetic analysis helps understand the evolutionary history of various groups of organisms, identify relationships between different species, and predict future evolutionary changes. Emerging imagery systems and new analysis techniques allow for
3108-550: Is "tree shape." These approaches, while computationally intensive, have the potential to provide valuable insights into pathogen transmission dynamics. The structure of the host contact network significantly impacts the dynamics of outbreaks, and management strategies rely on understanding these transmission patterns. Pathogen genomes spreading through different contact network structures, such as chains, homogeneous networks, or networks with super-spreaders, accumulate mutations in distinct patterns, resulting in noticeable differences in
3219-518: Is 97–105 mm (3.8–4.1 in) in males and 96–112 mm (3.8–4.4 in) in females. Reportedly, the culmen length can range from 32.5 to 39 mm (1.28 to 1.54 in). The greater spotted eagle is quite noisy when breeding and is often very vocal in winter, especially when in small loose flocks. The most common call, often heard during intraspecies conflicts, is a soft, one-syllable, penetrating, high-pitched, urgent whistle, variously transcribed as kyack , kluh , tyuck , or dyip . The call
3330-460: Is an opportunistic forager, especially during the winter. It will readily scavenge a variety of food sources, including carrion , as well as small mammals (principally rodents ), frogs, and a variety of smaller birds (especially water birds), and occasionally reptiles and insects. The eagle is primarily an aerial hunter, gliding from concealed perches over marshes or wet fields to catch prey. This species builds stick nests in large trees, laying
3441-534: Is detrimental to the population of the rarer greater spotted eagles. The greater spotted eagle is classified as a vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature . Its populations are threatened by habitat destruction , collisions with objects, and hybridization with lesser spotted eagles. Greater spotted eagles are members of the Aquilinae , or "booted eagles", subfamily,
Greater spotted eagle - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-776: Is heavily spotted and probably less than 20 months old. Additionally, vagrancy has been reported in Africa, including in Morocco , Algeria , Tunisia , Libya , Cameroon , Chad , Kenya , Tanzania , Zambia , and Botswana . It is sometimes documented in central and east Afghanistan . They also may also be found in East Asia across the southern part of the Russian Far East , eastern China, and occasionally in Southeast Asia from Myanmar and Thailand down through
3663-414: Is likely more prevalent during non-breeding times, when the eagles mostly bring fresh prey to their nests. Along with other predators such as steppe eagles , greater spotted eagles are often attracted to grass fires and swarming locusts during non-breeding times. Accipitridae The Accipitridae ( / ˌ æ k s ɪ ˈ p ɪ t r ɪ d iː , - d eɪ / ) is one of the four families within
3774-452: Is not always reliable. Hybrids of the two spotted eagles can be more difficult to distinguish, and are often muddled and varied in appearance, with some hybrids being much closer in appearance to one species or the other. Pure greater spotted eagles can be told from pure lesser spotted eagles via in-hand measurements such as bill height, width and extent of white spots on the juvenile, and the length of middle toe. The greater spotted eagle on
3885-411: Is not unlike that of lesser spotted eagles but is slightly deeper and more ringing. The calls are higher pitched than steppe eagles' and much higher pitched than those of the eastern imperial eagles ( Aquila heliaca ), the latter having a guttural call somewhat reminiscent of a frog. Additionally, a similar three-syllable bark is seemingly used to warn off intruders at a feeding site, sometimes considered
3996-408: Is sometimes considered the most common wintering eagle), small areas of southern Bulgaria , eastern Romania, and southern Moldova . Other wintering areas including northeastern Egypt , southern Sudan and adjacent South Sudan , north-central Ethiopia , and scattered areas of the Middle East including northern Israel , Kuwait , and central Syria . More continuously, they are found through much of
4107-445: Is somewhat diverse, at slightly fewer than 150 known prey species; this is more diverse than the known diet of the steppe eagle, similar in diversity to that of the lesser spotted eagle, and possibly about half as diverse of the diet of the eastern imperial eagle. Greater spotted eagles hunt mainly on the wing, quartering over relatively open ground (somewhat like a harrier ) or soaring high above and dropping or diving steeply when prey
4218-694: Is spotted. Brown and Amadon describe the hunting greater spotted eagle, saying: "Although not a very active species it is not exactly sluggish, and on the wing it has the look of a true eagle." Greater spotted eagles will scatter waterfowl by stooping low over their flock, then selecting isolated individuals to attack. Sometimes the greater spotted eagle still-hunts from a perch, a method more commonly employed by other eagles of similar distribution, and often hunts on foot as well. It mostly takes prey on ground or water. The species also sometime carries out kleptoparasitic attacks on other birds of prey. Although scavenging for carrion seems to occur almost aseasonally, it
4329-437: Is the identification, naming, and classification of organisms. Compared to systemization, classification emphasizes whether a species has characteristics of a taxonomic group. The Linnaean classification system developed in the 1700s by Carolus Linnaeus is the foundation for modern classification methods. Linnaean classification relies on an organism's phenotype or physical characteristics to group and organize species. With
4440-444: Is the study of the evolutionary history of life using genetics, which is known as phylogenetic inference . It establishes the relationship between organisms with the empirical data and observed heritable traits of DNA sequences, protein amino acid sequences, and morphology . The results are a phylogenetic tree —a diagram setting the hypothetical relationships between organisms and their evolutionary history. The tips of
4551-862: The Bosphorus in Turkey. On average, migration peaks earlier in the eastern end of their range, such as in Bhutan , where the largest numbers are seen in late February. They migrate around two weeks later than lesser spotted eagles and return earlier than that species as well. At known migration stopovers, lesser spotted eagles almost always outnumber greater spotted eagles. Greater spotted eagles who breed in Europe may migrate to southern France (especially Camargue ), Spain, Italy, and sometimes Sweden . Western breeding birds also regularly end up in North Africa , with
Greater spotted eagle - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-479: The Indian spotted eagle ( Clanga hastata ), was recognized as a distinct species from the similarly-sized lesser spotted eagle in 2006. The greater spotted eagle is rather large and compact. Normally, it is black-brown with a contrasting yellow beak . This species has a short neck with a large and often shaggy-naped head, a strong beak, and a short gape-line with round nostrils. The wings are broad and long, reaching
4773-480: The Indian subcontinent , reportedly from Gujarat northwards to Punjab , with recorded breeding as far south as Saurashtra and as far north as Maharashtra . However, this may only be historical, and there is almost certainly not a stable breeding population today. They also breed in northern Mongolia , and rather far into Northeastern China and northern North Korea . Greater spotted eagles disperse widely during migration, usually through September to November in
4884-778: The Malay Peninsula . Occasionally, greater spotted eagles are documented even in Indonesia (i.e. Sumatra ). Dedicated wintering areas tend to be more limited and isolated than their range during migration. The central wintering areas are principally the Mediterranean Basin , the Middle East , and the Indomalayan realm . Small pockets may exist in southwestern Spain and bordering Portugal , South France , northeastern Italy , western Greece (where it
4995-749: The Netherlands , Great Britain , Gibraltar , and the Czech Republic . Its regular breeding range no longer extends as far westwards as Germany , but birds are still occasionally seen there with a few records per decade. Young birds also disperse widely; the Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde Dresden has a specimen (C 21845) shot in November 1914 near Bernsdorf in Saxony . It is a juvenile, and though its exact age cannot be determined, it
5106-496: The crested serpent eagle ( Spilornis cheela ). Field identification of greater spotted eagle can be quite difficult. This species is primarily differentiated from lesser spotted eagles by its structure and proportions, though distant birds may be practically indistinguishable. Compared to the lesser spotted eagle, the adult appears very broad winged, which in turn makes the head look relatively small. However, greater spotted juveniles can appear less bulky, narrower, more rounded along
5217-639: The eastern imperial eagle can resemble fulvescens greater spotted eagles but are larger and appear structurally different. The imperial has much longer and narrower wings, a longer neck, a bigger, more prominent beak with an oblong (rather than oval) nail, a longer and narrower gape line, more conspicuous pale inner primaries, no carpal arc, a brown-streaked breast (though greater spotteds can show some diffuse marks), unmarked tarsal feathering, pale irides , and an obvious pale window on inner primaries. Beyond structural dissimilarities, subadult steppe eagles can be distinguished from paler morph greater spotted eagles by
5328-417: The fulvescens and intermediate morphs resemble a large number of eagles, but can be distinguished by underwing colour and pattern—such as their distinct carpal arc and dark, thinly barred quills—from pale or intermediate morphs of the similarly sized tawny eagle ( Aquila rapax ), which is usually less darkly backed without a defused dark face and possesses more typical, narrower wing proportions. Juveniles of
5439-940: The martial eagle ( Polemaetus bellicosus ) as possibly the most sexually dimorphic member of the Aquilinae . However, the largest male greater spotted eagles can overlap in most linear and mass measurements with smaller females. The total length of full-grown greater spotted eagles can vary from 59 to 74 cm (23 to 29 in). In wingspan, males have been reported to measure 155–177 cm (61–70 in) while females can measure 167–185 cm (66–73 in). Body mass for males has been reported to range from 1,537 to 2,000 g (3.389 to 4.409 lb), while females range from 1,820 to 3,250 g (4.01 to 7.17 lb). Among standard measurements, wing chord can range 477–519 mm (18.8–20.4 in) in males and 507–545 mm (20.0–21.5 in) in females. The shortish tail varies 227–249 mm (8.9–9.8 in) in males and 235–268 mm (9.3–10.6 in) in females. The fairly long tarsus
5550-404: The order Accipitriformes , and is a family of small to large birds of prey with strongly hooked bills and variable morphology based on diet. They feed on a range of prey items from insects to medium-sized mammals , with a number feeding on carrion and a few feeding on fruit. The Accipitridae have a cosmopolitan distribution , being found on all the world's continents (except Antarctica ) and
5661-2550: The Accipiridae shown below is based on a densely sampled molecular phylogenetic study of the Accipitridae by Therese Catanach and collaborators that was published in 2024. The number of species in each genus is based on the list maintained by Frank Gill , Pamela C. Rasmussen and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC). Gampsonyx – pearl kite Chelictinia – scissor-tailed kite Elanus – kites (4 species) Polyboroides – harrier-hawks (2 species) Gypohierax – palm-nut vulture Neophron – Egyptian vulture Gypaetus – bearded vulture Eutriorchis – Madagascar serpent eagle (placement uncertain) Chondrohierax – kites (2 species) Leptodon – kites (2 species) Aviceda – bazas and cuckoo-hawks (5 species) Pernis – honey buzzards (4 species) Elanoides – swallow-tailed kite Hamirostra – black-breasted buzzard Lophoictinia – square-tailed kite Henicopernis – honey buzzards (2 species) Spilornis – serpent eagles (6 species) Pithecophaga – Philippine eagle Terathopius – Bateleur Circaetus – snake eagles (6 species) + Dryotriorchis spectabilis Congo serpent eagle Necrosyrtes – hooded vulture Gyps – vultures (8 species) Sarcogyps – red-headed vulture Trigonoceps – white-headed vulture Torgos – lappet-faced vulture Aegypius – cinereous vulture Stephanoaetus – crowned eagle (placement uncertain) Nisaetus – hawk-eagles (10 species) Spizaetus – hawk-eagle (4 species) Lophotriorchis – rufous-bellied eagle Polemaetus – martial eagle Lophaetus – long-crested eagle Ictinaetus – black eagle Clanga – spotted eagles (3 species) Hieraaetus – eagles (5 species) Aquila – eagles (11 species) Harpyopsis – Papuan eagle Macheiramphus – bat hawk Morphnus – crested eagle Harpia – harpy eagle Lophospiza – goshawks (2 species, formerly in Accipiter ) Micronisus – gabar goshawk Urotriorchis – long-tailed hawk Melierax – chanting goshawks (3 species) Phylogenetic In biology , phylogenetics ( / ˌ f aɪ l oʊ dʒ ə ˈ n ɛ t ɪ k s , - l ə -/ )
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#17327873938285772-558: The German Phylogenie , introduced by Haeckel in 1866, and the Darwinian approach to classification became known as the "phyletic" approach. It can be traced back to Aristotle , who wrote in his Posterior Analytics , "We may assume the superiority ceteris paribus [other things being equal] of the demonstration which derives from fewer postulates or hypotheses." The modern concept of phylogenetics evolved primarily as
5883-515: The Indian subcontinent might be confused with Indian spotted eagles . The Indian species is smaller (similar in size to the lesser spotted eagle), somewhat narrower-winged and longer-tailed, with primary fingers more deeply cut and square-ended. The Indian species has a more distinct pale window in primaries, paler and less distinctly streaked underparts, and paler upperparts (more like a steppe eagle in color) with less distinct, more diffuse pale tips to
5994-770: The Middle East or Northeast Africa, while others migrate through the Carpathian Mountains to the Balkan Peninsula , and some continue through Central Europe and Western Europe to Southwestern Europe . The main wintering sites of the Asian populations are located in the Arabian Peninsula , Indian subcontinent , Indochina Peninsula , and East China . During migration, greater spotted eagles commonly cover around 150 km (93 mi) per day but can cover up to 350 km (220 mi) within
6105-514: The Middle East, the upper Mediterranean Basin , and parts of East Africa. Greater spotted eagles favor wetter habitats than most other booted eagles, preferring riparian zones as well as bogs , lakes, ponds, and other bodies of water surrounded by woodland. They breed primarily on floodplains, especially ones that experience high water levels. During winter and migration, they often seek out similar wetland habitats, but have also been observed in dry upland areas such as savanna plateaus . The eagle
6216-645: The absence of genetic recombination . Phylogenetics can also aid in drug design and discovery. Phylogenetics allows scientists to organize species and can show which species are likely to have inherited particular traits that are medically useful, such as producing biologically active compounds - those that have effects on the human body. For example, in drug discovery, venom -producing animals are particularly useful. Venoms from these animals produce several important drugs, e.g., ACE inhibitors and Prialt ( Ziconotide ). To find new venoms, scientists turn to phylogenetics to screen for closely related species that may have
6327-525: The accipitrids was historically a matter of dispute. Molecular studies have removed the phylogenetic uncertainty for most of the species. The accipitrids are recognizable by a peculiar rearrangement of their chromosomes . Apart from this, morphology and mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data give a confusing picture of these birds' inter-relationships. The hawks , kites , eagles and Old World vultures as presently assigned in all likelihood do not form monophyletic groups. The genus level cladogram of
6438-414: The basis of a computational classifier used to analyze real-world outbreaks. Computational predictions of transmission dynamics for each outbreak often align with known epidemiological data. Different transmission networks result in quantitatively different tree shapes. To determine whether tree shapes captured information about underlying disease transmission patterns, researchers simulated the evolution of
6549-454: The body and the rest of the wing coverts appearing light yellow or pale golden buff, sometimes becoming creamy when aged. The buff colour of the fulvescens phenotype is usually contrasted with diffuse dark coloring around the eyes, on the leading edges of wings, and more rarely and sparsely on the chest. Intermediate and other variants are very rare, but include those with a slightly paler body and variable yellowish-brown streaking or mottling on
6660-436: The branching pattern and "degree of difference" to find a compromise between them. Usual methods of phylogenetic inference involve computational approaches implementing the optimality criteria and methods of parsimony , maximum likelihood (ML), and MCMC -based Bayesian inference . All these depend upon an implicit or explicit mathematical model describing the evolution of characters observed. Phenetics , popular in
6771-460: The characteristics of species to interpret their evolutionary relationships and origins. Phylogenetics focuses on whether the characteristics of a species reinforce a phylogenetic inference that it diverged from the most recent common ancestor of a taxonomic group. In the field of cancer research, phylogenetics can be used to study the clonal evolution of tumors and molecular chronology , predicting and showing how cell populations vary throughout
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#17327873938286882-488: The contrasting paler underbody. The juvenile greater spotted eagle is generally uniformly black-brown with whitish to yellowish drop-shaped spots. Some juveniles appear heavily spotted all over, while others are less so. They always show an obvious row of spots along the upperwing coverts, forming clear wing bars tail and flight feathers, except the outer primaries. Juveniles' feathers underneath are often broadly cream-tipped, often showing some buffy streaks below, especially on
6993-400: The correctness of phylogenetic trees generated using fewer taxa and more sites per taxon on the x-axis to more taxa and fewer sites per taxon on the y-axis. With fewer taxa, more genes are sampled amongst the taxonomic group; in comparison, with more taxa added to the taxonomic sampling group, fewer genes are sampled. Each method has the same total number of nucleotide sites sampled. Furthermore,
7104-413: The data distribution. They may be used to quickly identify differences or similarities in the transmission data. Phylogenetic tools and representations (trees and networks) can also be applied to philology , the study of the evolution of oral languages and written text and manuscripts, such as in the field of quantitative comparative linguistics . Computational phylogenetics can be used to investigate
7215-426: The direction of inferred evolutionary transformations. In addition to their use for inferring phylogenetic patterns among taxa, phylogenetic analyses are often employed to represent relationships among genes or individual organisms. Such uses have become central to understanding biodiversity , evolution, ecology , and genomes . Phylogenetics is a component of systematics that uses similarities and differences of
7326-597: The discovery of more genetic relationships in biodiverse fields, which can aid in conservation efforts by identifying rare species that could benefit ecosystems globally. Whole-genome sequence data from outbreaks or epidemics of infectious diseases can provide important insights into transmission dynamics and inform public health strategies. Traditionally, studies have combined genomic and epidemiological data to reconstruct transmission events. However, recent research has explored deducing transmission patterns solely from genomic data using phylodynamics , which involves analyzing
7437-488: The dotted line represents a 1:1 accuracy between the two sampling methods. As seen in the graphic, most of the plotted points are located below the dotted line, which indicates gravitation toward increased accuracy when sampling fewer taxa with more sites per taxon. The research performed utilizes four different phylogenetic tree construction models to verify the theory; neighbor-joining (NJ), minimum evolution (ME), unweighted maximum parsimony (MP), and maximum likelihood (ML). In
7548-615: The eastern parts of Estonia , Latvia , and Lithuania , and central Belarus. An uncertain number of breeding birds spill over into the edge of eastern Finland . They are found broadly throughout European Russia , where habitat is favorable up through much of Arkhangelsk Oblast to as far as the lower coasts of the White Sea . They are found across much of Central Russia , with their probable northern limits being in Shuryshkarsky and Pitkyarantsky Districts. They are also found in
7659-668: The emergence of biochemistry , organism classifications are now usually based on phylogenetic data, and many systematists contend that only monophyletic taxa should be recognized as named groups. The degree to which classification depends on inferred evolutionary history differs depending on the school of taxonomy: phenetics ignores phylogenetic speculation altogether, trying to represent the similarity between organisms instead; cladistics (phylogenetic systematics) tries to reflect phylogeny in its classifications by only recognizing groups based on shared, derived characters ( synapomorphies ); evolutionary taxonomy tries to take into account both
7770-418: The fall, and February to April in the spring. They are found more widely during migration than during breeding or wintering. While migrating, greater spotted eagles may be seen in much of Eastern Europe, Anatolia , and throughout the Middle East , Central Asia (from Kazakhstan south), and western South Asia . This species is prone to vagrancy, and has been reported in several countries in Europe including
7881-418: The flanks and trousers. In fulvescens -type greater spotted eagles, juveniles are like the pale adult but show the typical heavily spotted wings and tail of typical juveniles, and often show some darker centers to the scapulars and median coverts. By the second to third year, the plumage is often considerably worn but white tips still create sufficiently prominent wing bars (unlike in lesser spotted eagles) until
7992-418: The fore upperwing coverts (which can make them look similar to juvenile lesser spotted eagles), or mottled yellow-brown with a dark-streaked breast and pale-tipped wing coverts (like the juvenile eastern imperial eagle ( Aquila heliaca )). These intermediate types may show the typical dark brown to black on the upper body, but in flight display pale mottled grey wing linings, or even normal coloration apart from
8103-404: The former's morphology, usually darker wing linings, and differences in appearance of primary patch and carpal arc. The juvenile usually lacks the pale nape patch of the lesser spotted eagle, but it is sometimes present, "albeit only slightly paler than rest of plumage and never ochre or orange". Typically, the spotting and barring pattern is much stronger in juvenile greater spotted eagles, but this
8214-780: The former's thicker well-spotted quill bars and paler underwing diagonal. In the eastern portion of range, they can be told apart from the even darker black eagle , which is much slimmer and has paddle-shaped wings and a long and clearly barred tail. This raptor breeds primarily in the Palearctic and the Indomalayan regions. It also breeds in central and southeastern Europe; however, it is highly restricted to small, non-contiguous pockets in Poland , Belarus , Ukraine , Bulgaria , Romania , Serbia , and Hungary . A more continuous breeding range begins in Eastern Europe and includes
8325-410: The greater spotted eagle and the lesser spotted eagle occurs perhaps because the two species have one of the closest relationships of any closely studied Accipitrid taxa, despite significant genetic differences. The mitochondrial genetic sequences of these species have more than 3% divergence, about twice what is considered the minimum genetic difference to distinguish two species. A third spotted eagle,
8436-443: The greater spotted eagle will sometimes prey on amphibians, reptiles (mainly small-to-mid-sized snakes), and occasionally small fish and insects. Pellets are considered the most reliable way to determine the diets of greater spotted eagle, as prey remains alone can be biased towards birds. As can be expected by their habitat preferences, greater spotted eagles tend to eat vertebrates associated with water. Generally, its prey spectrum
8547-474: The greater spotted eagle, which has a shorter neck, smaller bill with a shorter gape line, no pale nape patch (seen in adult steppe), narrower and less baggy trousers, and generally much shorter, slightly broader wings. Although visually similar at a distance, the steppe eagle has bolder, more extensive barring on the greyer flight feathers, complete lack of carpal arcs below, paler throat and nape, and larger but more diffuse primary patch. Greater spotted eagles of
8658-562: The juvenile has a creamy trailing edge to the wings and tail. Below, juvenile greater spotted eagles have largely black (apart from the creamy crissum) wing linings contrasting with paler grayer-soot flight feathers. Other juvenile plumages are variably paler but with quills as those of a typical juvenile. Birds that breed in the Volga – Ural area are slightly larger and more muted in plumage characteristics. Slightly smaller individuals seem to be prevalent farther west in Europe. There appears to be
8769-428: The larger wing-coverts. Furthermore, the Indian spotted eagle has a notably deeper gape extending behind its eye. Compared to non-spotted eagles of similar or larger sizes, the greater spotted eagle tends to be fairly compact in features with proportionately broad (and short-looking) wings, a shortish tail, and an overall darker and distinctly patterned plumage. The steppe eagle is similar to but larger and bulkier than
8880-475: The majority of models, sampling fewer taxon with more sites per taxon demonstrated higher accuracy. Generally, with the alignment of a relatively equal number of total nucleotide sites, sampling more genes per taxon has higher bootstrapping replicability than sampling more taxa. However, unbalanced datasets within genomic databases make increasing the gene comparison per taxon in uncommonly sampled organisms increasingly difficult. The term "phylogeny" derives from
8991-621: The mid-20th century but now largely obsolete, used distance matrix -based methods to construct trees based on overall similarity in morphology or similar observable traits (i.e. in the phenotype or the overall similarity of DNA , not the DNA sequence ), which was often assumed to approximate phylogenetic relationships. Prior to 1950, phylogenetic inferences were generally presented as narrative scenarios. Such methods are often ambiguous and lack explicit criteria for evaluating alternative hypotheses. In phylogenetic analysis, taxon sampling selects
9102-758: The native mangrove and Phragmites reed-beds that once lined the coastal bays have been almost entirely eliminated. In southern Iran, they are usually found in mangrove areas. A key habitat in Iraq is the Mesopotamian Marshes . Wintering habitats in Israel are the wettest available valleys and damp open zones, chiefly cultivated fields and fishponds near patches of trees, with similar habitats used in Oman. Greater spotted eagles are typically found from sea level to 300 m (980 ft) and are characteristically
9213-813: The northern tip of Vietnam , discontinuously in southeastern Vietnam and much of Cambodia , and southern coastal Malaysia . In China , wintering greater spotted eagles range from Jiangsu and Anhui continuously down to northern Guangdong across to Taiwan , and rarely in Korea . Greater spotted eagles are found in open wet forests and forest edges , often adjoining marshes , swampy patches , bogs , or wet meadows , as well as river-valley woodlands and floodplain forests. They are generally found in wetlands more often than lesser spotted eagles, but can be found in drier hillside forests in Central Asia . The difference in habitat preferences between these species
9324-417: The outermost three primaries, the secondaries, and the innermost primaries. At close range, nine to eleven dense narrow dark bars fading toward wing tips are visible. When seen in flight, the normal adult is uniformly blackish with a faint pale U above the tail, barely paler wing coverts, and paler quills. It is not unusual for adults to have slightly paler wing linings, similar to lesser spotted eagles, but only
9435-528: The phylogenetic history of a species cannot be read directly from its ontogeny, as Haeckel thought would be possible, but characters from ontogeny can be (and have been) used as data for phylogenetic analyses; the more closely related two species are, the more apomorphies their embryos share. One use of phylogenetic analysis involves the pharmacological examination of closely related groups of organisms. Advances in cladistics analysis through faster computer programs and improved molecular techniques have increased
9546-516: The precision of phylogenetic determination, allowing for the identification of species with pharmacological potential. Historically, phylogenetic screens for pharmacological purposes were used in a basic manner, such as studying the Apocynaceae family of plants, which includes alkaloid-producing species like Catharanthus , known for producing vincristine , an antileukemia drug. Modern techniques now enable researchers to study close relatives of
9657-415: The progression of the disease and during treatment, using whole genome sequencing techniques. The evolutionary processes behind cancer progression are quite different from those in most species and are important to phylogenetic inference; these differences manifest in several areas: the types of aberrations that occur, the rates of mutation , the high heterogeneity (variability) of tumor cell subclones, and
9768-418: The properties of pathogen phylogenies. Phylodynamics uses theoretical models to compare predicted branch lengths with actual branch lengths in phylogenies to infer transmission patterns. Additionally, coalescent theory , which describes probability distributions on trees based on population size, has been adapted for epidemiological purposes. Another source of information within phylogenies that has been explored
9879-543: The relationship between two variables in pathogen transmission analysis, such as the number of infected individuals and the time since infection. These plots can help identify trends and patterns, such as whether the spread of the pathogen is increasing or decreasing over time, and can highlight potential transmission routes or super-spreader events. Box plots displaying the range, median, quartiles, and potential outliers datasets can also be valuable for analyzing pathogen transmission data, helping to identify important features in
9990-410: The relationships between several of the languages in a timeline, as well as the similarity between words and word order. There are three types of criticisms about using phylogenetics in philology, the first arguing that languages and species are different entities, therefore you can not use the same methods to study both. The second being how phylogenetic methods are being applied to linguistic data. And
10101-578: The relationships between viruses e.g., all viruses are descendants of Virus A. HIV forensics uses phylogenetic analysis to track the differences in HIV genes and determine the relatedness of two samples. Phylogenetic analysis has been used in criminal trials to exonerate or hold individuals. HIV forensics does have its limitations, i.e., it cannot be the sole proof of transmission between individuals and phylogenetic analysis which shows transmission relatedness does not indicate direction of transmission. Taxonomy
10212-668: The return journey in less than a month. Satellite tracking of an eagle breeding in Estonia confirmed it consistently used the same wintering ground in coastal Catalonia , Spain, over seven consecutive years. Despite some individual devotedness to wintering grounds, one radiotracked individual initially trapped in the United Arab Emirates was found the following winter to go instead to Pakistan from its Kazakh breeding grounds, showing some variability in this regard. A wintering greater spotted eagle in southwest Saudi Arabia (from
10323-485: The same useful traits. The phylogenetic tree shows which species of fish have an origin of venom, and related fish they may contain the trait. Using this approach in studying venomous fish, biologists are able to identify the fish species that may be venomous. Biologist have used this approach in many species such as snakes and lizards. In forensic science , phylogenetic tools are useful to assess DNA evidence for court cases. The simple phylogenetic tree of viruses A-E shows
10434-447: The second winter, when most coverts are then newly molted with smaller pale tips. From about the middle of third year onwards, the plumage is more adult-like with few or no indistinct spots left, but remiges are of unequal age and untidy looking. The subadult is generally more uniform in color, but often still shows some pale tips to the greater coverts. Maturity is obtained by about the fifth year, though sometimes they may not breed until
10545-484: The shape of phylogenetic trees, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Researchers have analyzed the structural characteristics of phylogenetic trees generated from simulated bacterial genome evolution across multiple types of contact networks. By examining simple topological properties of these trees, researchers can classify them into chain-like, homogeneous, or super-spreading dynamics, revealing transmission patterns. These properties form
10656-439: The sixth. The bare parts change little in color at different ages, with eyes being dark brown, while the beak and feet are yellow in all ages. In flight, this is a large, dark raptor (often looking bigger than its true size) with a well-protruding head, long wings (which often look shorter due to their broadness), slightly bulging secondaries , and rather squared seven-finger tips, although juvenile wings can look more rounded. On
10767-548: The slenderer accipitrine hawks than previously believed. The greater spotted eagle's closest living relative is the lesser spotted eagle. They are believed to have diverged from their most recent common ancestor around the middle Pliocene , approximately 3.6 million years ago (mya). This "proto-spotted eagle" probably lived in the general region of modern-day Afghanistan , and split into northern and southern lineages when both glaciers and deserts advanced in Central Asia at
10878-701: The southern coastal Arabian Peninsula , including broadly along the Red Sea coast in Saudi Arabia , west and southern Yemen , southern Oman , coastal United Arab Emirates , and eastern Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, they winter in southeastern Turkey , Azerbaijan , southeastern Georgia , eastern Iraq , broadly in western, northern and eastern Iran , southern Turkmenistan , western Afghanistan , and far western Pakistan . They are also found discontinuously in eastern Pakistan, northern India , Bangladesh , southern Bhutan , and into northwestern Myanmar . In India,
10989-519: The spotted eagles form a monophyletic group with each other and the long-crested eagle ( Lophaetus occipitalis ). Studies suggest that the spotted eagles should be grouped with Lophaetus , or that all of these species should be grouped within Aquila . Furthermore, a close relationship has been found between the spotted eagles and the black eagle ( Ictinaetus malaiensis ) native to Asia. The spotted eagles, long-crested eagle, and black eagle may comprise
11100-520: The start of the last ice age . The northern lineage subsequently separated into the greater (eastern) and lesser (western) spotted eagle species of today, probably around the Pliocene– Pleistocene boundary, almost 2 mya. Spotted eagles were classified as part of the genus Aquila , along with several other mostly large, brownish eagles. However, molecular phylogenetic studies using one mitochondrial and two nuclear gene sequences showed that
11211-880: The steppe, and in forested swamps. In Kazakhstan, riparian forests in lowland steppes and forest-steppes mosaics are their primary habitat. In winter, much like during breeding, they usually occur in wetter habitats than most other eagles, including forested river deltas , mangrove forests , marshes , lakeshores , and, in India especially, jheels . However, greater spotted eagles have also been documented in semi-arid Acacia savannas in northeastern Africa. Reportedly in Eritrea , they occur in open moorland , around villages, and lowland grasslands , while in Sudan they are usually in shrubby areas. One seen wintering in Ankara , Turkey,
11322-676: The straits of the Red Sea . Old claims of as many as a thousand migrating eagles in the fall at Bosphorus are possibly erroneous (although there has possibly been a reduction of up to 75% from historic peak migrating numbers). In South Baikal in Irkutsk Oblast , Russia, greater spotted eagles accounted for only 0.2% of the observed migrating raptors in autumn migration (7–34 individuals annually; 137 individuals over 8 years). The largest (modern?) counts were 86 and 74 at Suez , Egypt, in autumn and spring, respectively, with smaller numbers recorded crossing into Africa at Bab-el-Mandeb , although
11433-598: The summer in Saudi Arabia. Similarly, records show lingering numbers of this species into at least May in Peninsular Malaysia. The greater spotted eagle is a slightly opportunistic predator but tends to favor rather particular prey types. Their diet tends to be composed mostly of small mammals. Despite some dietary similarities with the lesser spotted eagle, the greater spotted eagle's diet includes more birds and favors larger prey. Beyond mammals and birds,
11544-414: The tail tip. The tail is relatively short and rounded. The overall effect of the broad wings and short tail can give them an almost vulture -like silhouette. The feet are large, and the feathers covering the legs are less compactly arranged than on lesser spotted eagles. Greater spotted eagles tend to perch in the open. Most perches are on treetops at a forest edge , or more isolated vantage points such as
11655-421: The third, discusses the types of data that is being used to construct the trees. Bayesian phylogenetic methods, which are sensitive to how treelike the data is, allow for the reconstruction of relationships among languages, locally and globally. The main two reasons for the use of Bayesian phylogenetics are that (1) diverse scenarios can be included in calculations and (2) the output is a sample of trees and not
11766-735: The wing, and longer-tailed, making their proportions closer to the lesser. Greater spotted eagles can be clearly larger in size, with females effectively dwarfing most lesser spotted eagles, but there is a broad size overlap between the two species. In some cases, male greater spotted eagles can be scarcely any larger than male lesser spotted eagles. Side-by-side, greater spotted eagles are typically conspicuously darker than lesser spotted eagles, and notable for their dark uppertail coverts, lack of nape patch, blackish-brown uniform arms, and uniform, dark upperwing coverts (not contrastingly rusty brownish). Although difficult, intermediate greater spotted eagles can be distinguished from young lesser spotted eagles by
11877-511: The wing, greater spotted eagles appear heavy-bodied, often appearing suspended below the wings and with a relatively short, broad tail. They have quick wing beats with little upstroke and appear to have comparatively lighter flight actions than steppe eagles ( Aquila nipalensis ), but appear somewhat heavier, less graceful, and less Buteo -like than lesser spotted eagles. Greater spotted eagles soar on almost flat wings, with hands often slightly lowered and their primaries well spread. When gliding,
11988-406: The wings are bowed with a clear angle between arms and hands, emphasizing the wings' short look. On their upperwings, greater spotted eagles variably show a pale primary patch formed mainly by white based shafts and partially pale outer webs. This is seen at all ages but is much smaller and less obvious on adults. The underwing almost invariably has a single white crescent formed by the white base of
12099-632: The winter range is through the Indo-Gangetic Plain to Bihar , Jharkhand , West Bengal to Assam (including the North Cachar hills), and northeastern hill states extending south through central India. They were once reasonably common in the Malabar and Carnatic coasts but likely only before a hundred years ago. After another gap, they are found in much of southern and central Myanmar, central and southern Thailand, southern Laos ,
12210-585: Was confirmed in northeastern Poland, where greater spotted eagles nested in wooded areas on floodplains with considerably more annual flooding than those nested in by lesser spotted eagles. Although typically scarce while breeding in areas modified by heavy human development, they have been seen hunting over cultivated land in Estonia and migrating over lowland farms in the Czech Republic . In Russia, they are found in transition zones between taiga forest and open steppe (often around river valleys ), in pine forests , near dwarf forests , in wet, wooded areas of
12321-701: Was in an upland forest area. In the Mediterranean Basin, a study found that the preferred habitats of wintering greater spotted eagles were salt marshes and coastal lagoons with freshwater areas. They are not uncommon in paddy fields and sometimes garbage dumps in Asia during winter, being much more adaptable to human-modified areas in this season, though by and large prefer assorted wetlands, mudflats, large rivers, estuaries, and mangroves. In Arabia, they are largely found now in manmade habitats—such as sewage farms, reservoirs , and agricultural land—since
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