NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Crested Honey Buzzard
Pernis ptilorhynchus (Temminck, 1821)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Oriental honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus) (f) perched on a tree, Mudumalai National Park, Tamilnadu, India. Yellow iris indicates a female. The crested honey buzzard is a specialist feeder. Unlike other raptors, it mainly eats the grubs of bees and wasps, with bits of comb and honey. It takes other small insects such as cicadas. Occasionally, it eats small birds, reptiles and frogs like other raptors. While perched, it observes the flight lines of bees and wasps to locate their honeycombs.
Timothy A. Gonsalves · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The crested honey buzzard (Pernis ptilorhynchus), also known as the Oriental, Asiatic, or Eastern honey buzzard, is a bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as kites, eagles, and harriers. It is a fairly large raptor, larger than the European honey buzzard. The name honey buzzard is derived from their diets, which consist mainly of the larvae of bees and wasps extracted from honey combs. It is sexually dimorphic and has six subspecies. Crested honey buzzards migrate for breeding to Siberia and Japan during the summer. They then spend the winter in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. They are also a year-round resident in these latter areas. They prefer well-forested areas with open spaces and are found from sea level up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft). The species has several adaptations for its specialist diet. These include an elongated head for foraging on underground nests and a groove in the tongue for extracting wasp grubs from their comb cells.
Wikipedia contributors, Crested honey buzzard; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T09:22:41.969154+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pernis ptilorhynchus (Temminck, 1821)
- Name authority
- (Temminck, 1821)
- Common name
- Crested Honey Buzzard
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Pernis
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classAves
- orderAccipitriformes
- familyAccipitridae Vigors, 1824
- genusPernis Cuvier, 1816
- speciesPernis ptilorhynchus (Temminck, 1821)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pernis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Philippine Honey BuzzardPernis steerei W. L. Sclater, 1919 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| European Honey BuzzardPernis apivorus (Linnaeus, 1758) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Barred Honey BuzzardPernis celebensis Wallace, 1868 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Pernis ptilorhyncus (Temminck, 1821) (Temminck, 1821) | synonym |
| Falco ptilorhynchus Temminck, 1821 Temminck, 1821 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Southern Asia
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=824109 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:4F6Z3. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.