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
The Birds of Australia (Mathews) these two volumes extend its coverage to Australia’s Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea, and even attempt to fill in the gaps left in Walter Buller’s coverage of New Zealand in his similarly ambitious "A History of the Birds of New Zealand" (1872-1873, 2nd edition 1887-1888). Publication dates of the various parts are as follows: The Birds of Australia (Mathews) The Birds of Australia is a 12-volume ornithological handbook covering the birds of Australia. It was the second of three monumental illustrated works dealing with the avifauna of the continent and was published midway between the