The
genus Phoenicopterus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist
Carl Linnaeus in the
tenth edition of his
Systema Naturae to accommodate a single species, the
American flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber. The genus name comes from
Ancient Greek φοῖνιξ (
phoînix), meaning "crimson", and
πτερόν (
pterón), meaning "feather".
"Leguat's giant" now believed by some researchers to be based on sightings of the
greater flamingo A large bird described from
Mauritius and
Rodrigues and illustrated by the traveller
Francois Leguat in 1708 was speculated to represent a large
rail by
Hermann Schlegel in 1857 and named
Leguatia gigantea, "Leguat's giant", but later research indicates that it was probably based on sightings of
Phoenicopterus flamingos that are known to have lived there, possibly the
greater flamingo.
Species The genus contains three
extant species: ==References==