Flamingos or flamingoes (pronunciation) are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus and family Phoenicopteridae. They are found in both the Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere, but are more numerous in the former. There are four species in the Americas while two exist in the Old World. Two species, the Andean and the James's Flamingo, are often placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus instead of Phoenicopterus.
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Flamingos or flamingoes (pronunciation) are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus and family Phoenicopteridae. They are found in both the Western Hemisphere and Eastern Hemisphere, but are more numerous in the former. There are four species in the Americas while two exist in the Old World. Two species, the Andean and the James's Flamingo, are often placed in the genus Phoenicoparrus instead of Phoenicopterus.
Evolution
- Palaelodidae
- Stout-legged Flamingo (Borgloon Early Oligocene of Hoogbutsel, Belgium)
- Palaelodus (Middle Oligocene -? Middle Pleistocene)
- Megapaloelodus (Late Oligocene - Early Pliocene)
- Phoenicopteridae
- Elornis (Middle? Eocene - Early Oligocene) - includes Actiornis
- Phoenicopteridae gen. et sp. indet. (Camacho Middle? - Late Miocene? of San José, Uruguay) - see Ubilla et al. (1990)
- Prehistoric species of Phoenicopterus:
- Phoenicopterus croizeti (Middle Oligocene - Middle Miocene of C Europe)
- Phoenicopterus floridanus (Early Pliocene of Florida)
- Phoenicopterus stocki (Middle Pliocene of Rincón, Mexico)
- Phoenicopterus copei (Late Pleistocene of W North America and C Mexico)
- Phoenicopterus minutus (Late Pleistocene of California, USA)
- Phoenicopterus aethiopicus
Relationships
The identity of the closest relatives of the flamingos is a rather contentious issue. Traditionally, the long-legged Ciconiiformes, probably a paraphyletic assemblage, have been considered the flamingos' closest relatives and the family was included in the order. Usually the spoonbills and ibises of the Threskiornithidae were considered their closest relatives within this order. Nevertheless, relationships to the Anseriformes (waterfowl) were considered as well (Sibley et al. 1969), especially as flamingos and waterfowl are parasitized by feather lice of the genus Anaticola (Johnson et al. 2006), which are otherwise exclusively found on ducks and geese.
In recent years, molecular and anatomical studies have yielded confusing results: Sibley & MonroeFact: date=January 2007 placed flamingos within their expanded (and certainly paraphyletic, as is now known) Ciconiiformes . On the other hand, since long it has been the grebes (Podicipedidae), rather than Ciconiiformes, ducks, or stilts, that were time and again indicated as the closest relatives of flamingos, and there is currently renewed interest in this hypothesis.
