- published: 18 Jul 2015
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The tinamous are a family comprising 47 species of birds found in Central and South America. One of the most ancient living groups of bird, they are related to the ratites. Generally ground dwelling, they are found in a range of habitats.
The family Tinamidae consists of about 47 species in 9 genera. They range in size from the Dwarf Tinamou at 15 cm (6 in) and 42 grams (1.5 oz) to the Gray Tinamou at 48 cm (17 in) and 1.6 kg (3.7 lbs). Although they look similar to other ground-dwelling birds like quail and grouse, the characters they share are the result of convergence and plesiomorphy rather than shared evolutionary innovations. Tinamids have no closer living relatives than the flightless ratites, and thus are placed in their own order, Tinamiformes. Their taxonomic names are based on the Galibi word for these birds, tinamu.
"Tinamidae" was defined as by Gauthier and de Queiroz (2001): "Tinamidae refers to the crown clade stemming from the most recent common ancestor of Tetrao [Tinamus] major Gmelin 1789 and all extant birds sharing a more recent ancestor with that species than with Struthio camelus Linnaeus 1758 and Vultur gryphus Linnaeus 1758."