''Eudromia'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

s in the

tinamou Tinamous () form an order of birds called Tinamiformes (), comprising a single family called Tinamidae (), divided into two distinct subfamilies, containing 46 species found in Mexico, Central America, and South America. The word "tinamou" comes ...

family. This genus comprises two crested members of this

South American South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

family.

Etymology

''Eudromia'' comes from two Greek words, ''eu'' meaning well or nicely, and ''dromos'' meaning a running escape. These definitions together mean, nice running escape, which refers to their habit of escaping predators by running.

Taxonomy

Tinamous are

paleognath Palaeognathae (; ) is a infraclass of birds, called paleognaths, within the class Aves of the clade Archosauria. It is one of the two extant infraclasses of birds, the other being Neognathae, both of which form Neornithes. Palaeognathae conta ...

s related to the

flightless Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly. There are over 60 extant species, including the well known ratites ( ostriches, emu, cassowaries, rheas, and kiwi) and penguins. The smallest flightless bird is ...

ratites A ratite () is any of a diverse group of flightless, large, long-necked, and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwi, the exception, are much smaller and shorter-legged and are the only nocturnal extant ratites. The systematics ...

. They are probably close in appearance to the flying ancestors of the ratites. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can fly, although in general, they are not strong fliers.Davies, S. J. J. F. (2003) This genus has a mere 2

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

, but the elegant crested tinamou has diversified into a considerable number of subspecies: The species are:Mikko's Phylogeny Archiv

*†''Eudromia'' sp. (Late Miocene of La Pampa Province, Argentina) *†'' Eudromia olsoni, E. olsoni'' Tambussi & Tonni 1985 'Tinamisornis intermedius'' Dabbene & Lillo 1913 non Rovereto 1914; ''Eudromia elegans intermedia">Tinamisornis_intermedius.html" ;"title="'Tinamisornis intermedius">'Tinamisornis intermedius'' Dabbene & Lillo 1913 non Rovereto 1914; ''Eudromia elegans intermedia'' (Dabbene & Lillo 1913)] (Late Pliocene of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina) *†''Eudromia intermedia, E. intermedia'' (Rovereto 1914) [''Tinamisornis intermedia'' Rovereto 1914 non Dabbene & Lillo 1913] (Pliocene of Argentina) * The quebracho crested tinamou, ''Eudromia formosa'', located in

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 ...

and northern

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, t ...

** ''Eudromia formosa formosa'' located in northern

** ''Eudromia formosa mira'' located in

and northwestern

* The

elegant crested tinamou The elegant crested tinamou or martineta tinamou (''Eudromia elegans'') is a medium-sized tinamou that can be found in southern Chile and Argentina in Shrubland. The bird has an omnivorous diet. This species is terrestrial due to their poor flyi ...

, ''Eudromia elegans'', located in

and southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Clements, J. (2007) ** ''Eudromia elegans elegans'' located in central

** ''Eudromia elegans intermedia'' located in northwestern

** ''Eudromia elegans magnistriata'' located in northwestern

** ''Eudromia elegans riojana'' located in northwestern

** ''Eudromia elegans albida'' located in western

** ''Eudromia elegans multiguttata'' located in east central

** ''Eudromia elegans devia'' located in southwestern

** ''Eudromia elegans patagonica'' located in southern

and southern

** ''Eudromia elegans numida'' located in central

** ''Eudromia elegans wetmorei'' located in western

MPLK-03, a fossil specimen from

, possibly belongs to ''Eudromia'' and surpacces extanct '' E. elegans'' and '' E. formosa'' in size by 2.2-8% and 6-14%, respectively. It existed during the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within ...

, around the time of the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Eu ...

Etymology

Taxonomy

Footnotes

References

External links