NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle
Spilornis klossi Richmond, 1902
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.
Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle (Spilornis klossi) by Shreeram MV Photographed near Campbell Bay, Great Nicobar, India
Shreeram M V · 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 Great Nicobar serpent eagle (Spilornis klossi), also known as the South Nicobar serpent eagle, is a species of bird of prey in the family Accipitridae. It is probably the smallest known eagle, with a weight of about 450 g (0.99 lb), a wingspan of 85 to 95 cm (33 to 37 in) and a body length of about 38 to 42 cm (15 to 17 in). It is endemic to forest on the Indian island of Great Nicobar. It is threatened by habitat loss.
All major authorities now treat the Great Nicobar serpent eagle as a species, but in the past it was sometimes considered a subspecies of S. minimus. Today S. minimus is either considered a subspecies of the crested serpent eagle or a monotypic species from the central Nicobar Islands, the Central Nicobar serpent eagle.
Wikipedia contributors, Great Nicobar serpent eagle; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:44:03.999033+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Spilornis klossi Richmond, 1902
- Name authority
- Richmond, 1902
- Common name
- Great Nicobar Serpent Eagle
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Aves
- Order
- Accipitriformes
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Genus
- Spilornis
- 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
- genusSpilornis G. R. Gray, 1840
- speciesSpilornis klossi Richmond, 1902
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Spilornis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Crested Serpent EagleSpilornis cheela (Latham, 1790) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Andaman Serpent EagleSpilornis elgini (Blyth, 1863) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Philippine Serpent EagleSpilornis holospilus (Vigors, 1831) | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sulawesi Serpent EagleSpilornis rufipectus Gould, 1858 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Mountain Serpent EagleSpilornis kinabaluensis W. L. Sclater, 1919 | AccipitridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
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.
- Richmond, & Charles Wallace. (1902). Birds Collected by Dr. W. L. Abbott and Mr. C. B. Kloss in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. 25, No. 1288. 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:4Z4FR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.