Ratite - online puzzles

A ratite is any of a diverse group of flightless and mostly large and long-legged birds of the infraclass Palaeognathae. Kiwis, however, are relatively much smaller and shorter-legged, as well as being the only nocturnal ratites.

The systematics of and relationships within the paleognath clade have been in flux. Previously, all the flightless members had been assigned to the order Struthioniformes, which is more recently regarded as containing only the ostrich. The modern bird superorder Palaeognathae consists of ratites and flighted Neotropic tinamous (compare to Neognathae). Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum – hence the name from the Latin ratis ( raft, a vessel which has no keel). Without this to anchor their wing muscles, they could not fly even if they were to develop suitable wings. Recent research has indicated that ratites are a paraphyletic group; tinamous fall within them, and are the sister group of the extinct moa. This implies that flightlessness is a trait that evolved independently multiple times in different ratite lineages.

Most parts of the former supercontinent Gondwana have ratites, or did have until the fairly recent past.