Rostratulidae
| Painted-snipes Temporal range: Early Pliocene to present |
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| Female greater painted-snipe | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: |
Rostratulidae Ridgway, 1919 |
| Genera | |
The Rostratulidae (commonly known as painted-snipes), form a taxonomic family of wader species, composed of two genera: Rostratula and Nycticryphes.
At present two species, the South American and greater painted-snipes, are not considered threatened by human activities; however, the Australian painted-snipe has declined and is considered endangered in Australia.
The family Rostratulidae encompasses two genera and four species (one extinct). Painted-snipes superficially resemble true snipes but the two taxa are not closely related. Instead the similarity can be attributed to convergent evolution where both groups have been subjected to similar selection pressures, thus promoting the evolution of analogous features such as a long slender bill and legs, mottled crypsis plumage and particular body proportions. While less similar in morphology, the species that are considered most closely related to painted-snipes are other members of the suborder Thinocori; jacanas, seedsnipes and the plains wanderer.
The painted-snipe, †Rostratula minator was described in 1988 from deposits of the early Pliocene found in Langebaanweg, South Africa. This is the first valid fossil belonging to the family Rostratulidae. Comparisons of bone measurements with R. minator and the extant species show that it was relatively intermediate in size, although this considerable difference indicates that it may only be an endemic African species that has become extinct, rather than the direct ancestor of R. benghalensis.
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Wikipedia