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Information about Dromaiidae

Casuariidae
Enlarge picture
Emu

Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Struthioniformes
Family:Casuariidae
Kaup, 1847
Genera


Casuarius
Dromaius
For fossil forms, see article


The bird family Casuariidae has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary, and the only remaining species of Emu. The emus were formerly classified in their own family, Dromaiidae, but are regarded as sufficiently closely related to the cassowaries to be part of the same family.

All four members of the family are very large flightless birds native to Australia-New Guinea. The characteristics of the family are those of its members.

Systematics and evolution

The emus form a distinct subfamily, characterized by legs adapted for running. As with all ratites, there are several contested theories concerning their evolution and relationships. As regards this family, it is especially interesting whether emus or cassowaries are the more primitive form: the latter are generally assumed to retain more plesiomorphic features, but this does not need to be true at all; the fossil record is also ambiguous, and the present state of genomics does not allow for suffiently comprehensive analyses. A combination of all these approaches with considerations of plate tectonics at least is necessary for resolving this issue.

The number of cassowary species described based on minor differences in casque shape and color variations is quite large. In recent times, however, only 3 species are recognized, and most authorities only acknowledge few subspecies or none at all.

The fossil record of casuariforms is interesting, but not very extensive. Regarding fossil species of Dromaius and Casuarius, see their genus pages.

Some Australian fossils initially believed to be from emus were recognized to represent a distinct genus, Emuarius[1], which had a cassowary-like skull and femur and an emu-like lower leg and foot. In addition, the first fossils of mihirungs were initially believed to be from giant emus[2], but these birds were completely unrelated.
Enlarge picture
Southern Cassowary
Subfamily Casuariinae - cassowaries Subfamily Dromaiinae - emus

References

  • Boles, Walter E. (2001): A new emu (Dromaiinae) from the Late Oligocene Etadunna Formation. ''Emu 101: 317–321. HTML abstract

Footnotes

1. ^ From "Emu" + "Casuarius". Describer W. E. Boles commonly refers to the genus as "emuwaries" or "cassomus".
2. ^ The vernacular name "mihirung" is derived from mihirung paringmal, which means "giant emu" in the Chaap Wuurong language
Emu may refer to:
  • Emu, a large, flightless bird
  • Emu (journal) (Emu - Austral Ornithology), a scientific journal
  • Emu Field (alternatively known as Emu or Emu Junction), the location of the first atomic test that occurred on the Australian mainland in 1953

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Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Aves
Linnaeus, 1758

Orders

About two dozen - see section below

Birds (class Aves) are bipedal, warm-blooded, egg-laying vertebrate animals.
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Struthioniformes
Latham, 1790

Families

Struthionidae (ostriches)
Rheidae (rheas)
Casuariidae (emus etc.)
†Aepyornithidae (elephant birds)
†Dinornithidae (moa)
Apterygidae (kiwis)

A ratite
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Johann Jakob Kaup (April 10, 1803 - July 4, 1873) was a German naturalist.

He was born at Darmstadt. After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes.
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genus (plural: genera) is part of the Latinized name for an organism. It is a name which reflects the classification of the organism by grouping it with other closely similar organisms.
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Casuarius
Brisson, 1760

Species

Casuarius casuarius
Casuarius unappendiculatus
Casuarius bennetti
Cassowaries (genus Casuarius
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Dromaius is a genus of Ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, Dromaius novaehollandiae commonly known as the Emu.

In his original 1816 description of the emu, Vieillot used two generic names; first Dromiceius, then Dromaius
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species is one of the basic units of biological classification. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
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Casuarius
Brisson, 1760

Species

Casuarius casuarius
Casuarius unappendiculatus
Casuarius bennetti
Cassowaries (genus Casuarius
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Emu may refer to:
  • Emu, a large, flightless bird
  • Emu (journal) (Emu - Austral Ornithology), a scientific journal
  • Emu Field (alternatively known as Emu or Emu Junction), the location of the first atomic test that occurred on the Australian mainland in 1953

..... Click the link for more information.
Australia (also called Australia-New Guinea, Sahul, Meganesia, Greater Australia, Australasia, or Australinea) is a continent comprising (in order of size) the Australian mainland, New Guinea, Tasmania, and intervening islands, all of which
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Struthioniformes
Latham, 1790

Families

Struthionidae (ostriches)
Rheidae (rheas)
Casuariidae (emus etc.)
†Aepyornithidae (elephant birds)
†Dinornithidae (moa)
Apterygidae (kiwis)

A ratite
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Cladistics is a philosophy of classification that arranges organisms only by their order of branching in an evolutionary tree and not by their morphological similarity, in the words of Luria et al. (1981).
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Genomics is the study of an organism's entire genome. The field includes intensive efforts to determine the entire DNA sequence of organisms and fine-scale genetic mapping efforts.
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Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων, tektōn "builder" or "mason") is a theory of geology that has been developed to explain the observed evidence for large scale motions of the Earth's lithosphere.
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The introduction of this article is too short.
To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, it should be expanded.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the lead section guide to make sure the introduction summarizes the article.
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The femur or thigh bone is the longest, most voluminous, and strongest bone of mammalian bodies. It forms part of the hip and part of the knee.

The word femur is Latin for thigh.
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Dromornithidae
Rich, 1979

Genera

Dromornis
Barawertornis
Bullockornis
Ilbandornis
Genyornis

Dromornithidae
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C. casuarius

Subspecies: C. c. aruensis C. c. bicarunculatus
C. c. bistriatus
C. c. casuarius
C. c. johnsonni
C. c. lateralis
C. c.
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C. bennetti

Binomial name
Casuarius bennetti
Gould, 1857

Distribution of the Dwarf Cassowary


The Dwarf Cassowary, Casuarius bennetti
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C. unappendiculatus

Binomial name
Casuarius unappendiculatus
Blyth, 1860

Distribution of the Northern Cassowary


The Northern Cassowary,
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Emu may refer to:
  • Emu, a large, flightless bird
  • Emu (journal) (Emu - Austral Ornithology), a scientific journal
  • Emu Field (alternatively known as Emu or Emu Junction), the location of the first atomic test that occurred on the Australian mainland in 1953

..... Click the link for more information.
D. n. diemenensis

Trinomial name
Dromaius novaehollandiae diemenensis
Le Souef, 1907

Synonyms

Dromaeius diemenensis (lapsus) Le Souef, 1907

The Tasmanian Emu (
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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D. baudinianus

Binomial name
Dromaius baudinianus
Shane A. Parker, 1984

Synonyms
Dromaius minor

Kangaroo Island Emu (Dromaius baudinianus
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extinction is the cessation of existence of a species or group of taxa, reducing biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point).
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