Gruiformes
Sign in to saveThe Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means 'crane form'.
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Gruiformes is an order of birds that includes many living and extinct families spread across different parts of the world, with the name meaning "crane form." This group matters because its diversity of species and widespread distribution make it significant for understanding bird evolution and ecology globally.
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- Systematics
- Phylogeny
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The Gruiformes are an order containing a considerable number of living and extinct bird families, with a widespread geographical diversity. Gruiform means 'crane form'.
Traditionally, a number of wading and terrestrial bird families that did not seem to belong to any other order were classified together as Gruiformes. These include 15 species of large cranes, about 145 species of smaller crakes and rails, as well as a variety of families comprising one to three species, such as the Heliornithidae, the limpkin, or the Psophiidae. Other birds have been placed in this order more out of necessity to place them somewhere; this has caused the expanded Gruiformes to lack distinctive apomorphies. Recent studies indicate that these "odd Gruiformes" are if at all only loosely related to the cranes, rails, and relatives ("core Gruiformes"). thumb|right|Rallidae|Rails are one of the most widespread Gruiformes