Sarcoramphus papa (king vulture) genome, bSarPap1, sequence data
The king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It is the only surviving member of the genus Sarcoramphus, although fossil members are known (from Wikipedia entry). This sample of an individual found in Paraupebas, Para, Brazil was procured by Nereston de Camargo, Jeronymo Dalapicolla, and Alexandre Aleixo to generate a high-quality reference genome for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP). Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genome Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Erich D. Jarvis, Giulio Formenti, and Jennifer Balacco.