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Flamingos or flamingoes [a] (/ f l ə ˈ m ɪ ŋ ɡ oʊ z /) are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean), and two species native to Afro-Eurasia. A group of flamingoes is ...
Phoenicopteriformes / f iː n ɪ ˈ k ɒ p t ə r ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / is a group of water birds which comprises flamingos and their extinct relatives. Flamingos (Phoenicopteriformes) and the closely related grebes ( Podicipedidae ) are contained in the parent clade Mirandornithes .
The genus Phoenicopterus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae to accommodate a single species, the American flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber. [1] [2] The genus name is Latin for "flamingo". [3]
The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread and largest species of the flamingo family. Common in the Old World, they are found in Northern (coastal) and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian Subcontinent (south of the Himalayas), the Middle East, the Levant, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean countries of Southern Europe.
Mirandornithes [4] (/ m ɪ ˌ r æ n d ɔːr ˈ n ɪ θ iː z /) is a clade that consists of flamingos and grebes. Many scholars use the term Phoenicopterimorphae for the superorder containing flamingoes and grebes. [5] [6] Determining the relationships of both groups has been problematic.
The specific epithet ruber is Latin meaning "red". [8] The greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), that is widespread in the Old World, was formerly treated as a subspecies of the American flamingo. [6] Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that the two taxa are each other's closest relatives. [9]
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It is the largest flamingo in the Andes and is one of the two heaviest living flamingos alongside the taller greater flamingo. [5] Reportedly body mass of the Andean flamingo has ranged from 1.5 to 4.9 kg (3.3 to 10.8 lb), height from 1 to 1.4 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 7 in) and wingspan from 1.4 to 1.6 m (4 ft 7 in to 5 ft 3 in).