Aquila Rapax Bird

English Name:  Tawny Eagle
Latin Name:  Aquila rapax
Protonym:  Falco rapax Pl.Col. livr.76[=77] pl.455
Taxonomy:  Accipitriformes / Accipitridae / Aquila
Taxonomy Code:  taweag1
Type Locality:  South Africa.
Author:  Temminck
Publish Year:  1828
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

AQUILA
(Accipitridae; † Golden Eagle A. chrysaetos) L. aquila  eagle  ?<  aquilus  dark-coloured; the Golden Eagle was the emblem of the Roman legions, whose standards or eagles bore the likeness of an eagle with raised wings; "Aquila. Genus 9.  ...  Genus Aquilinum ...  Digiti quatuor, membranis destituti; tres scilicet antici, posticus unus; omnes circiter usque ad exortum discreti: Crura ad calcaneum usque plumosa: Rostrum breve, primum rectum, dein aduncum; ad basin cute nuda tectum: Caput plumosum.  ...  **1. L'AIGLE  ...  AQUILA." (Brisson 1760): based on "Aquila" of many previous authors; "Aquila Brisson, Orn., 1, 1760, p. 28, 419.  Type, by tautonymy, Aquila Brisson = Falco chrysaëtos Linné." (Peters, 1931, I, p. 253).
Var. Aquilla, Aquilo.   
Synon. Aetos, Aetus, Afraetus, Cassinaetus, Chrysaetus, Euaquila, Micraetus, Morphnaetos, Psammoaetus, Pteroaetus, Taphaetus, Uroaetus.

aquila
L. aquila  eagle  ?<  aquilus  dark-coloured.
● "XIII. AIGLE COMMUN.   FALCO AQUILA.  ...  Aquila Valeria. ARISTOTE, Hist. anim.  Falco fulvus. LINNÉ, Syst. nat.  Chrysaëtos, cauda albo cincta. RAY, Syn.  ...  En Tartarie on leur apprend à chasser les lièvres, les renards et même les loups" (Daudin 1800) (syn. Aquila chrysaetos).
● "66. PELECANUS.  ...  Aquilus.  2. P. cauda forficata, corpore nigro, capite abdomineque albis. Amœn. acad. 4. p. . .   Pelecanus Aquilus. Osb. iter. 292.  Alcyon major pulla, cauda pulla, cauda longiore bifurca. Brown jam. 483.  Cari pira Laët. amer. 575.  Man of var.[sic] Sloan. jam. I. p. 30.  Avis Rabo focardo. Pet. gaz. t. 45. f. 1.?  Frigate bird. Alb. av. 3. p. 75. t. 80. male.  Habitat in Insula Adscensionis aliisque pelagicis, vitam agens Diomedeæ exulis, cui similis." (Linnaeus 1758); from the very sharp, eagle-like bill of the Ascension Frigatebird (Fregata).

rapax
L. rapax, rapacis  rapacious, grasping  < rapere  to seize.

SUBSPECIES

Tawny Eagle (belisarius)
Latin Name: Aquila rapax belisarius
belisarius
Flavius Belisarius (c. 505-555 AD) Byzantine general in the reign of Justinian (subsp. Aquila rapax).

Tawny Eagle (rapax)
Latin Name: Aquila rapax rapax
rapax
L. rapax, rapacis  rapacious, grasping  < rapere  to seize.

Tawny Eagle (vindhiana)
Latin Name: Aquila rapax vindhiana
vindhiana
Vindhyian Hills (= Vindhia), central India.