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The tops of elephant bird skulls display punctuated marks, which may have been attachment sites for fleshy structures or head feathers. [18] Mullerornis is the smallest of the elephant birds, with a body mass of around 80 kilograms (180 lb), [16] with its skeleton much less robustly built than Aepyornis. [19]
There are no rules for how many species should make a genus, a family, or any other higher taxon (that is, a taxon in a category above the species level). [52] [53] It should be a natural group (that is, non-artificial, non-polyphyletic), as judged by a biologist, using all the information available to them. Equally ranked higher taxa in ...
Recently it has been determined that the elephant birds of the extinct order Aepyornithiformes were the closest relatives of the kiwis, and therefore are part of this group. [4] The implication is that ratites had lost flight independently in each group, as the elephant birds are the only novaeratites found outside Oceania. [4]
Three species of living elephants are recognised; the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), and Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). [8] African elephants were traditionally considered a single species, Loxodonta africana , but molecular studies have affirmed their status as separate species.
Elephantidae contains some of the largest known proboscideans, with fully-grown males of some species of mammoths and Palaeoloxodon having average body masses of 11 tonnes (24,000 lb) and 13 tonnes (29,000 lb) respectively, making them among the largest terrestrial mammals ever.
This category lists orders of birds (ending in "-formes") as categories, and pages dealing with certain (non-taxonomic) groups of birds. The first section links to categories listing lower taxonomic levels in birds. In the second section, higher categories such as superorders, and basal groups are listed.
[24] [20] Thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined "beta taxonomy" as the classification of ranks higher than species. [ 25 ] An understanding of the biological meaning of variation and of the evolutionary origin of groups of related species is even more important for the second stage of taxonomic activity, the sorting of species into groups of ...
Genus †Aepyornis St. Hilaire 1850 (4 species) †Aepyornis gracilis Monnier 1913 (gracile elephant bird) †Aepyornis hildebrandti Burckhardt 1893 (Hildebrandt's elephant bird) †Aepyornis maximus St. Hilaire 1851 EX 16th century †Aepyornis medius Milne-Edwards & Grandidier 1866 (medium/greater elephant bird) EX 16th century