Cathartiformes (New World vultures)

The order contains one family:

Cathartidae (New World vultures)

Genus-level timetree of extant Cathartiformes based on Catanach et al. (2024) and Driver & Li (2025), with the distribution of each family being indicated by the colour-code used throughout this website (Distribution code). Divergence times follow Catanach et al. (2024), which are very close to those provided by Johnson et al. (2016).

Genus-level classification of extant Cathartiformes.

References

Catanach TA, Halley MR, and Pirro S (2024), Enigmas no longer: using ultraconserved elements to place several unusual hawk taxa and address the non-monophyly of the genus Accipiter (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae), Biol. J. Linn. Soc. in press, (pdf)

Driver R, and Li R (2025), The complete mitochondrial genome and phylogenetic analyses of Cathartes melambrotus (Wetmore, 1964) (Aves: Cathartidae), Mitochondrial DNA B 10, 187-191. (pdf)

Johnson JA, Brown JW, Fuchs J, and Mindell DP (2016), Multi-locus phylogenetic inference among New World vultures (Aves: Cathartidae), Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 105, 193-199. (abstract)

Kuhl H, Frankl-Vilches C, Bakker A, Mayr G, Nikolaus G, Boerno ST, Klages S, Timmermann B, and Gahr M (2021), An unbiased molecular approach using 3'UTRs resolves the avian family-level tree of life, Mol. Biol. Evol. 38, 108-127. (free pdf)

Mindell DP, Fuchs J, and Johnson JA (2018), Phylogeny, taxonomy, and geographic diversity of diurnal raptors: Falconiformes, Accipitriformes, and Cathartiformes, In: Sarasola, J.H. et al., Birds of prey, Chapter 1, 3-32. Springer. (abstract)

Urantówka AD, Kroczak A, Strzala T, Zaniewicz G, Kurkowski M, and Mackiewicz P (2021), Mitogenomes of Accipitriformes and Cathartiformes were subjected to ancestral and recent duplications followed by gradual degradation, Genome Biol. Evol. 13, e:evab193. (pdf)