aëtomorphæ

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. In ornithology, the birds of prey; a group equivalent to the Raptores or Accipitres of most authors. Named by Huxley in 1867 as a superfamily of the desmognathous division of the order Carinatæ, and divided by him into the four families of Strigidæ, Cathartidæ, Gypætidæ, and Gypogeranidæ. The characters of the group are drawn chiefly from osteology, but are those of the Raptores as commonly understood.