genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
of seriemas in the family Cariamidae. It is found in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Bolivia
, image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg
, flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center
, flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...
, and
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. It contains one living
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, the
black-legged seriema
The black-legged seriema (''Chunga burmeisteri'') is one of two living species of seriemas in the family Cariamidae. It is found from southeastern Bolivia and northern Paraguay south into north-central Argentina. It is a large, mostly grey b ...
. A prehistoric species, ''
Chunga incerta
''Chunga incerta'' is an extinct species of cariamid bird which inhabited the Pliocene of the central-eastern Southern Cone of South America. It belongs to the genus '' Chunga'', today only represented by one species, '' Chunga burmeisteri.''
...
'', has been described from the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
and
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Monte Hermoso Formation of Argentina.Noriega, J.I., Vizcaíno, S.F., & Bargo, M.S. (2009). "First record and a new species of seriema (Aves: Ralliformes: Cariamidae) from Santacrucian (early–middle miocene) Beds of Patagonia." ''Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology'', 29(2), 620-626.