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Tinamiformes:
Tinamiformes contains tinamous, one of the most ancient groups of bird, members of a South American bird family of about 47 species in 9 genera. Although they look similar to other ground-dwelling birds like quail and grouse, they have no close relatives and are classified as a single family Tinamidae within their own order, the Tinamiformes. Of Gondwanan origin, they are distantly related to the ratites, the order Struthioniiformes that includes the rheas, Emu, and kiwi. Although the fossil record in South America is generally poor (or perhaps largely undiscovered as yet), the known tinamou fossil record goes back 10 million years. Together with the ratites, they make up the Paleognathae, or “Old Jaws”, as distinct from the vast majority of modern birds in the Neognathae, or “New Jaws”.
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