Nisaetus, the crested hawk-eagles, is a genus of raptor in the subfamily Aquilinae, found mainly in tropical Asia. They were earlier placed within the genus Spizaetus but molecular studies show that the Old World representatives of that genus are closer to the genus Ictinaetus than to the New World Spizaetus (in the stricter sense). They are slender-bodied, medium-sized hawk-eagles with rounded wings, long feathered legs, barred wings, crests and usually adapted to forest habitats.
Taxonomy and species These Old World species were formerly placed in the genus Spizaetus. They were moved to the resurrected genus Nisaetus based on the results of molecular genetic studies published in 2005 and 2007. The genus Nisaetus had been introduced in 1836 by the English naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson with the mountain hawk-eagle as the type species. The genus name Nisaetus combines the Medieval Latin for a sparrowhawk with the Ancient Greek meaning "eagle". The genus contains ten species.
Image Scientific name Common name DistributionNisaetus kelaarti (Legge, 1878)Legge's hawk-eaglesouthern India to Sri LankaNisaetus nanus Wallace, 1868Wallace's hawk-eagleBrunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and ThailandNisaetus nipalensis (Hodgson, 1836)Mountain hawk-eagleIndia, Nepal to Thailand, Taiwan and Japan Nisaetus alboniger (Blyth, 1845) Blyth's hawk-eagle Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo Nisaetus bartelsi Stresemann, 1924 Javan hawk-eagle JavaNisaetus lanceolatus Temminck & Schlegel, 1844Sulawesi hawk-eagleSulawesi and its satellite islands of Buton, Muna, Banggai and Sula IslandsNisaetus pinskeri Preleuthner and Gamauf, 1998Pinsker's hawk-eagleLeyte, Samar, Negros and Mindanao in the PhilippinesNisaetus philippensis Gould, 1863Philippine hawk-eaglePhilippines Nisaetus cirrhatus (Gmelin, 1788) Changeable hawk-eagle India and Sri Lanka, and from the southeast rim of the Himalaya across Southeast Asia to Indonesia and the Philippines Nisaetus floris (E. Hartert, 1898) Flores hawk-eagle Flores, Lombok and Sumbawa in the Lesser Sundas
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