Aerospiza

Aerospiza is a genus of goshawk and sparrowhawk in the family Accipitridae that are found in Africa. The two species in the genus were formerly placed in the genus Accipiter.

Taxonomy

The genus Aerospiza was introduced in 1922 by the South African zoologist Austin Roberts with Falco tachio, Daudin, 1800 as the type species. The name combines the Ancient Greek αηρ, αερος meaning "air" with σπιζιας meaning "hawk". Species now placed in this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Accipiter. Molecular phylogenetic studies found that Accipiter was polyphyletic and in the subsequent rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, the genus Aerospiza was resurrected to contain two species that were previously placed in Accipiter.
The genus contains 2 species: