Flamingo
family of birds
Flamingos or flamingoes () are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas (including the Caribbean), and two species native to Afro-Eurasia.
Etymology
The name flamingo comes from Portuguese or Spanish flamengo 'flame-coloured'; in turn, the word comes from Provençal flamenc – a combination of flama 'flame' and a Germanic-like suffix -ing. The word may also have been influenced by the Spanish ethnonym flamenco 'Fleming' or 'Flemish'.
The name of the genus, Phoenicopterus, is from Ancient Greek φοινικόπτερος (phoinikopteros) 'crimson/red-feathered'; other genera names include Phoeniconaias, which means 'crimson/red water nymph (or naiad)', and Phoenicoparrus, which means 'crimson/red bird (though, an unknown bird of omen)'.
A group of flamingos is called a "flamboyance", or a "stand".
Taxonomy and systematics
The family Phoenicopteridae was introduced by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1831, with Phoenicopterus as the type genus.
Traditionally, the long-legged Ciconiiformes, probably a paraphyletic assemblage, have been considered the flamingos' closest relatives and the family was included in the order. Usually, the ibises and spoonbills of the Threskiornithidae were considered their closest relatives within this order. Earlier genetic studies, such as those of Charles Sibley and colleagues, also supported this relationship.
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This entry incorporates text from “Flamingo” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.