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-wren of the smallest, the rufous-crowned, to 7.5 g of the southern emu-wren. The three species of emu-wrens each live in distinct habitats: the southern emu-wren preferring marshes and heathland, the mallee emu-wren inhabiting spinifex understory in mallee woodland, and the rufous-crowned emu-wren dwelling in spinifex in desert areas. Emu-wrens are fairly secretive and hard to spot, living in low shrub cover. They are predominantly insectivorous, but supplement their diet with seeds. Their furtive behaviour and brown colour has resulted in them being mistaken for bush mice. Emu-wren The emu-wrens ("Stipiturus") are a genus of passerine birds in the Australasian wren