Limpkin

The limpkin (Aramus guarauna), also called carrao, courlan, and crying bird, is a large wading bird related to rails and cranes, and the only extant species in the family Aramidae. It is found mostly in wetlands in warm parts of the Americas, from Florida to northern Argentina, but has been spotted as far north as Wisconsin and Southern Ontario. It feeds on molluscs, with the diet dominated by apple snails of the genus Pomacea. Its name derives from its seeming limp when it walks. == Taxonomy and systematics == The limpkin is placed in the family Aramidae, which is in turn placed within the crane and rail order Gruiformes. The limpkin had been suggested to be close to the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae, based upon shared bird lice. The Sibley–Ahlquist taxonomy of birds, based upon DNA–DNA hybridization, suggested that the limpkin's closest relatives were the Heliornithidae finfoots, and Sibley and Monroe even placed the species in that family in 1990. More recent studies have found little support for this relationship. More recent DNA studies have confirmed a close relationship with particularly the cranes, with the limpkin remaining as a family close to the cranes and the two being sister…