Greater roadrunner of New Mexico. Greater roadrunner The greater roadrunner ("Geococcyx californianus") is a long-legged bird in the cuckoo family, Cuculidae, from Southwestern United States and Mexico. The Latin name means "Californian earth-cuckoo". Along with the lesser roadrunner, it is one of two species in the roadrunner genus "Geococcyx". This roadrunner is also known as the chaparral cock, ground cuckoo, and snake killer. The roadrunner is about long, has a wingspan and weighs . It stands around tall and is the largest cuckoo of the Americas. Roadrunners have four toes on each zygodactyl foot; two face forward, and two face backward. The
On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family On the Proteaceae: the evolution and classification of a southern family is a highly influential monograph on the evolution, biogeography and taxonomy of the flowering plant family Proteaceae. Authored by Lawrie Johnson and Barbara Briggs, it appeared in Volume 70 of "Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society" in 1975. Johnson and Briggs had presented what would become the paper at a meeting of the Linnaean Society on 6 December 1973 amid celebrations of 200 years since the birth of Robert Brown. One of its most important and long-lasting contributions