Attagis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Thinocoridae
Genus: Attagis
Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. & Lesson, RP, 1831
Type species
Attagis gayi[1]
I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire & Lesson, 1831
Species

Attagis is a genus of seedsnipe, a South American family of small gregarious waders which have adapted to a vegetarian diet.

These birds look superficially like partridges in structure and bill shape. They have short legs and long wings. Their 2-3 eggs are laid in a shallow scrape on the ground.

The genus was erected by the French ornithologists Isidore Saint-Hilaire and René Lesson in 1831 with the rufous-bellied seedsnipe (Attagis gayi) as the type species.[2][3] The name Attagis is the word used for a game bird in Ancient Greek texts. It probably referred to the black francolin (Francolinus francolinus).[4]

Species

The genus contains two species:[5]

Image Common Name Scientific name Distribution
Rufous-bellied seedsnipe Attagis gayi Andes of South America south from Ecuador.
White-bellied seedsnipe Attagis malouinus southwestern Argentina and Tierra del Fuego.

These are the larger of the four seedsnipe species.

References

  1. ^ "Thinocoridae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  2. ^ Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Isidore; Lesson, René (1831). Centurie Zoologique (in French). pp. 130, 135.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 306.
  4. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  5. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Grebes, flamingos, buttonquail, plovers, painted-snipes, jacanas, plains-wanderer, seedsnipes". World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
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