Belongs within: Aquilinae.
Aquila is a genus of large eagles found in Eurasia, Africa, North America and Australia. Circumscription of the genus has varied between authors and it may be expanded to include members of the related genus Hieraaetus. The type species is the golden eagle A. chrysaetos, a dark brown species with lighter golden feathers on the nape that is widespread across the Holarctic realm.
<==Aquila Brisson 1760CC10
|--+--A. nipalensisBKB15 [=A. rapax nipalensisVP89; incl. A. bifasciataS89]
| `--+--A. heliacaCHP25
| `--+--A. adalbertiCHP25 [=A. heliaca adalbertiUSDI77]
| `--A. rapax (Temminck 1828)CHP25, M02 [=Falco rapaxM02]
| |--A. r. rapaxSt05
| |--A. r. belisarius (Levaillant 1850) [incl. Falco (Aquila) albicans Rüppell 1835]St05
| |--A. r. orientalis Cabanis 1854M-PG70 [=A. nipalensis orientalisJ63]
| `--A. r. raptor Brehm 1855M-PG70
`--+--A. africana (Cassin 1865)CHP25 [=Hieraaetus africanusLM05, Spizaetus africanusLM05]
`--+--*A. chrysaetos (Linnaeus 1758)CC10, CHP25, M02 (see below for synonymy)
| |--A. c. chrysaetosI92
| `--A. c. japonica Severtzov 1888I92
`--+--+--A. audax (Latham 1801)BKB15, PB96
| | |--A. a. audaxM03
| | `--A. a. fleayiM03
| `--A. gurneyiBKB15
`--+--A. verreauxi Lesson 1830CHP25, M-PG70
`--+--A. fasciata Vieillot 1822BKB15, M02 [=Hieraaetus fasciatusM02]
`--A. spilogaster (Bonaparte 1850)BKB15, M-PG70 [=Spizaetus spilogasterM-PG70, Hieraaetus fasciatus spilogasterLM05]
Aquila incertae sedis:
A. bonelliiC77
A. bullockensis Gaff & Boles 2010ML23
A. corroyi Gaillard 1939 [=Aquilavus corroyi]M02
A. delphinensis Gaillard 1939M02
A. desmursiiH64
A. fossilis Giebel 1847M02
A. fulva (Linnaeus 1758)J23, L58 [=Falco fulvusJ23; incl. A. nigraF17]
A. hypogaea Milne-Edwards 1892 [=Aquilavus hypogaea, Aquilavus hypogaeus]M02
A. occipitalisFP64
A. pennatoides Gaillard 1939M02
A. prisca Milne-Edwards 1863 [=Aquilavus priscus, Eutolmaetus priscus, Nisaetus priscus]M02
A. vindhianaE42
*Aquila chrysaetos (Linnaeus 1758)CC10, CHP25, M02 [=Falco chrysaetosCC10; incl. A. aureaF17, A. chrysaetos bonifacti Mourer-Chauviré 1975M02, A. chrysaetos canadensis Nelson 1883Sc05, A. chrysaetos simurgh Weesie 1988M02]
*Type species of generic name indicated
References
[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.
[C77] Cope, E. D. 1877. Report upon the extinct Vertebrata obtained in New Mexico by parties of the expedition of 1874. Geographical Surveys West of the One Hundredth Meridian 4 (2): i–iv, 1–370.
[E42] Ewer, W. 1842. List of a collection of birds from India. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 10: 91–93.
[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.
[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.
[H64] Hogg, J. 1864. On the Roman imperial and crested eagles. Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 33 (Notices and Abstracts): 104.
[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.
[J63] Jánossy, D. 1963. Letztinterglaziale Vertebraten-Fauna aus der Kálmán Lambrecht-Höhle (Bükk-Gebirge, nordost-Ungarn) I. Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 9 (3–4): 293–331.
[LM05] Lerner, H. R. L., & D. P. Mindell. 2005. Phylogeny of eagles, Old World vultures, and other Accipitridae based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37: 327–346.
[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis revised 10th ed. vol. 1. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.
[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.
[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.
[M03] Morcombe, M. 2003. Field Guide to Australian Birds 2nd ed. Steve Parish Publishing.
[PB96] Palma, R. L., & S. C. Barker. 1996. Phthiraptera. In: Wells, A. (ed.) Zoological Catalogue of Australia vol. 26. Psocoptera, Phthiraptera, Thysanoptera pp. 81–247. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.
[S89] Salvadori, T. 1889. Viaggio di Leonardo Fea nella Birmania e nelle regioni vicine. XIX.—Uccelli raccolti nei Monti Carin a nord-est di Tounghoo, nel Pegù presso Rangoon e Tounghoo e nel Tenasserim presso Malewoon. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2a, 7: 369–438.
[Sc05] Schalow, H. 1905. Die Vögel der Arktis. In: Römer, F., & F. Schaudinn (eds) Fauna Arctica. Eine Zusammenstellun der arktischen Tierformen, mit besonder Berücksichtigung des Spitzbergen-Gebietes auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Deutschen Expedition in das Nördliche Eismeer im Jahre 1898 vol. 4 pp. 79–288. Gustav Fischer: Jena.
[St05] Steinheimer, F. D. 2005. Eduard Rüppel’s avian types at the Natural History Museum, Tring (Aves). Senckenbergiana Biologica 85 (2): 233–264.
[USDI77] United States Department of the Interior. 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.
[VP89] Viney, C., & K. Phillipps. 1989. Birds of Hong Kong 5th ed. Government Printer: Hong Kong.