Belongs within: Accipitrinae.
Accipiter is a genus of fast-flying raptors with shanks, long tails and round, broad wings. Historically one of the more diverse accipitrid genera, recent phylogenetic analyses have agreed that the broader concept of the genus is not monophyletic. As a result, Catanach et al. (2025) restricted Accipiter to a subset of species directly related to the type, the Eurasian sparrowhawk A. nisus. The members of Accipiter sensu stricto are smaller species with long, thin tarsometatarsi and toes, and relatively small bills and halluces. They are primarily predators of birds (Catanach et al. 2025).
The Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus is widespread across temperate Eurasia, with migratory populations visiting southern Asia and eastern Africa. It has grey or brown upperparts and barred underparts. The rufous-breasted sparrowhawk A. rufiventris of Africa has more solid rufous underparts.
<==Accipiter Brisson 1760CC10 [incl. Nisus Lacépède 1799B94, Paraspizias Mathews 1915CC10; Nisinae]
|--A. poliogaster (Temminck 1824)CHP54
`--+--+--A. madagascariensis Verreaux 1833CHP25 [=Nisus madagascariensisSch66]
| `--A. ovampensis Gurney 1875CHP25 [incl. A. hilgertiM-PG70]
`--+--A. striatus Vieillot 1808CHP25
| |--A. s. striatusSWK87
| |--A. s. veloxA68
| `--A. s. venatorSWK87
`--+--*A. nisus (Linnaeus 1758)CC10, CHP25, M02 [=Falco nisusM02; incl. Ierax fringillariusF17]
| |--A. n. nisusI92
| `--A. n. nisosimilis (Tickell 1833)I92
`--+--A. erythronemius Gray 1848BKB15, Scl66 [=Nisus fringillarius erythronemiusScl66; incl. N. striatusScl66]
`--A. rufiventris Smith 1830CHP25
Accipiter incertae sedis:
A. albogularisJT12
A. brachyurusJT12
‘Nisus’ brutusSch66
A. butleriJT12
A. chilensisJT12
A. chionogaster (Kaup 1851)JT12, Scl66 [=Nisus chionogasterScl66]
A. cirrocephalus (Vieillot 1817)BKB15, WS48 (see below for synonymy)
A. erythrauchenJT12
A. fringillariusV41
A. fuscus [=Falco fuscus; incl. F. dubius, F. pennsylvanicus, F. velox]Scl66
‘Aviceda’ gracilis (de Vis 1905)ML23
A. henicogrammusJT12
‘Astur’ hyderE42
‘Nisus’ lantziiSch66
A. luteoschistaceusJT12
A. macroscelides (Hartlaub 1855) [=Astur macroscelides]M-PG70
|--A. m. macroscelidesM-PG70
`--A. m. lopezi (Alexander 1903) [=Astur lopezi]M-PG70
‘Nisus’ morelii [=Nisuoides morelii]Sch66
A. nanusJT12
A. pectoralis [=Falco pectoralis]Scl66
A. pileatus [=Falco pileatus]Scl66
A. princepsJT12
A. rhodogasterJT12
A. ruficaudus [=Falco ruficaudus; incl. F. borealis]J23
A. tinus [=Falco tinus, Nisus tinus; incl. Accipiter fontanieri]Scl66
A. torquatusR87 [=Falco (Urospizias) torquatusR87, Astur torquatusS13]
A. trinotatusJT12
‘Astur’ unicinctusF43
A. ventralis Sclater 1866Scl66
Accipiter cirrocephalus (Vieillot 1817)BKB15, WS48 [=Sparvius cirrhocephalusCC10, *Paraspizias cirrhocephalusCC10; incl. Astur cirrocephalus broomei Mathews 1912WS48]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
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[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.
[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.
[CHP25] Catanach, T. A., M. R. Halley & S. Pirro. 2025. Enigmas no longer: using ultraconserved elements to place several unusual hawk taxa and address the non-monophyly of the genus Accipiter (Accipitriformes: Accipitridae). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 144 (2): blae028.
[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.
[E42] Ewer, W. 1842. List of a collection of birds from India. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 10: 91–93.
[F17] Forster, T. 1817. A synoptical catalogue of British birds; intended to identify the species mentioned by different names in several catalogues already extant. Forming a book of reference to observations on British ornithology. Nichols, Son, and Bentley: London.
[F43] Fraser, L. 1843. On the collection of birds brought to England by Mr. Bridges. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 11: 108–121.
[I92] Iwahashi, J. (ed.) 1992. Reddo Deeta Animaruzu: a pictorial of Japanese fauna facing extinction. JICC: Tokyo.
[J23] James, E. 1823. Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, performed in the years 1819 and ’20, by order of the Hon. J. C. Calhoun, sec’y of war: under the command of Major Stephen H. Long. From the notes of Major Long, Mr. T. Say, and other gentlemen of the exploring party vol. 1. H. C. Carey & I. Lea: Philadelphia.
[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.
[M-PG70] Mackworth-Praed, C. W., & C. H. B. Grant. 1970. African Handbook of Birds ser. 3 vol. 1. Birds of West Central and Western Africa. Longman: London.
[ML23] Mather, E. K., M. S. Y. Lee, A. B. Camens & T. H. Worthy. 2023. A giant raptor (Aves: Accipitridae) from the Pleistocene of southern Australia. Journal of Ornithology 164: 499–526.
[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.
[R87] Ramsay, E. P. 1887. List of Western Australian birds collected by Mr. Cairn, and Mr. W. H. Boyer-Bower, at Derby and its vicinity, with remarks on the species. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1085–1100.
[S13] Sarasin, F. 1913. Die Vögel Neu-Caledoniens und der Loyalty-Inseln. In: Sarasin, F., & J. Roux (eds) Nova Caledonia: Forschungen in Neu-Caledonian und auf den Loyalty-Inseln. A. Zoologie vol. 1 pt 1 pp. 1–78, pls 1–3. C. W. Kreidels Verlag: Wiesbaden.
[Sch66] Schlegel, H. 1866. Communication from, on mammals and birds collected in Madagascar. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 419–426.
[Scl66] Sclater, P. L. 1866. On a new species of the genus Accipiter from New Granada. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1866: 302–304.
[SWK87] Snyder, N. F. R., J. W. Wiley & C. B. Kepler. 1987. The Parrots of Luquillo: Natural history and conservation of the Puerto Rican parrot. Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology: Los Angeles.
[V41] Vigne, G. T. 1841. Relating to a collection of birds formed in Thibet and Cashmere. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 9: 6–7.
[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.