Casuariidae Casuariidae The bird family Casuariidae has four surviving members: the three species of cassowary and the emu. All living members of the family are very large flightless birds native to Australia-New Guinea, though the extinct potential member "Hypselornis" was native to India. The characteristics of the family are those of its members. The fossil record of casuariforms is interesting, but not very extensive. Some Australian fossils initially believed to be from emus were recognized to represent a distinct genus, "Emuarius", which had a cassowary-like skull and femur and an emu-like lower leg and foot. A Pliocene Indian ratite, "Hypselornis", has
Emu Bay Shale has 28,000 lenses in each eye. NOTE: Much of the text of this article was used with permission of Sam Gon III from his below referenced web site, in particular from the Emu Bay page References about Australian Trilobites: <br> Emu Bay Shale The Emu Bay Shale is a geological formation in Emu Bay, South Australia, containing a major Konservat-Lagerstätten (fossil beds with soft tissue preservation). It is one of two in the world containing Redlichiidan trilobites. The Emu Bay Shale is dated as Cambrian Series 2, Stage 4, correlated with the upper Botomian Stage of the Lower Cambrian. Its