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