Editing Emu (section)

==Taxonomy==

===History===
Emus were first reported as having been seen by Europeans when explorers visited the western coast of Australia in 1696. This was during an expedition led by Dutch captain [[Willem de Vlamingh]] who was searching for survivors of a ship that had gone missing two years earlier.<ref name=Robert>{{cite book|author=Robert, Willem Carel Hendrik |title=The explorations, 1696–1697, of Australia by Willem De Vlamingh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fDfgAAAAMAAJ |year=1972 |publisher=Philo Press |isbn=978-90-6022-501-1 |page=140}}</ref> The birds were known on the eastern coast before 1788, when the first Europeans settled there.<ref name=e5>Eastman, p. 5.</ref> The birds were first mentioned under the name of the "New Holland [[cassowary]]" in [[Arthur Phillip]]'s ''Voyage to Botany Bay'', published in 1789 with the following description:<ref name="Gould">{{cite book |author=Gould, John |year=1865 |title=Handbook to the Birds of Australia |volume=2 |pages=200–203 |url=https://archive.org/details/handbooktobirdso02gou|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Philip | first=Arthur | year=1789 | title=The voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay | place=London | publisher=Printed by John Stockdale | pages=271–272 | url=https://archive.org/stream/voyageofgovernor00phil_0#page/n403/mode/2up }}</ref>

{{Blockquote|This is a species differing in many particulars from that generally known, and is a much larger bird, standing higher on its legs and having the neck longer than in the common one. Total length seven feet two inches. The bill is not greatly different from that of the common Cassowary; but the horny appendage, or helmet on top of the head, in this species is totally wanting: the whole of the head and neck is also covered with feathers, except the throat and fore part of the neck about half way, which are not so well feathered as the rest; whereas in the common Cassowary the head and neck are bare and carunculated as in the turkey.
The plumage in general consists of a mixture of brown and grey, and the feathers are somewhat curled or bent at the ends in the natural state: the wings are so very short as to be totally useless for flight, and indeed, are scarcely to be distinguished from the rest of the plumage, were it not for their standing out a little. The long spines which are seen in the wings of the common sort, are in this not observable,—nor is there any appearance of a tail. The legs are stout, formed much as in the Galeated Cassowary, with the addition of their being jagged or sawed the whole of their length at the back part.}}

[[File:Emu skeleton.jpg|thumb|upright=0.85|Mounted emu skeleton]]

The species was named by ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] in 1790 based on a specimen from the [[Sydney]] area of Australia, a country which was known as [[New Holland (Australia)|New Holland]] at the time.<ref name="Davies" /><ref>{{cite book| last= Latham| first= John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1790 | title= Index Ornithologicus, Sive Systema Ornithologiae: Complectens Avium Divisionem in Classes, Ordines, Genera, Species, Ipsarumque Varietates (Volume 2) | language=la | place=London | publisher = Leigh & Sotheby | page=665 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1vZAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA665}}</ref> He collaborated on Phillip's book and provided the first descriptions of, and names for, many Australian bird species; ''[[Dromaius]]'' comes from a Greek word meaning "racer" and ''novaehollandiae'' is the Latin term for New Holland, so the name can be rendered as "fast-footed New Hollander".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gotch |first1=A.F. |title=Latin Names Explained. A Guide to the Scientific Classifications of Reptiles, Birds & Mammals|year=1995 |orig-year=1979 |publisher=Facts on File |isbn=978-0-8160-3377-5 |page=179 |chapter=16}}</ref> In his original 1816 description of the emu, the French ornithologist [[Louis Pierre Vieillot]] used two [[genus|generic]] names, first ''Dromiceius'' and later ''Dromaius''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Vieillot, Louis Pierre|title=Analyse d'une nouvelle ornithologie élémentaire, par L.P. Vieillot |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i02jJBjImYkC&pg=PA54 |year=1816 |publisher=Deteville, libraire, rue Hautefeuille |pages=54, 70}}</ref> It has been a point of contention ever since as to which name should be used; the latter is more correctly formed, but the convention in [[Taxonomy (biology)#Alpha and beta taxonomy|taxonomy]] is that the first name given to an organism stands, unless it is clearly a [[typographical error]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Generic name of the Emu|pages=592–593 |author=Alexander, W.B.|journal=Auk |volume=44 |year=1927 |doi=10.2307/4074902 |issue=4 |jstor=4074902 |url=https://sora.unm.edu/node/14236 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Most modern publications, including those of the Australian government,<ref name="ag" /> use ''Dromaius'', with ''Dromiceius'' mentioned as an alternative spelling.<ref name=ag />

===Systematics===
The emu was long classified, with its closest relatives the cassowaries, in the family [[Casuariidae]], part of the [[ratite]] order Struthioniformes.<ref name=Christidis>{{cite book|author1=Christidis, Les|author2=Boles, Walter|title=Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SFP9P1i-PoEC&pg=PA57 |year=2008|publisher=Csiro Publishing |isbn=978-0-643-06511-6 |page=57}}</ref> An alternate classification was proposed in 2014 by Mitchell et al., based on analysis of [[mitochondrial DNA]]. This splits off the Casuariidae into their own order, the [[Casuariiformes]],<ref>{{cite book|author=Tudge, Colin|year=2009|title=The Bird: A Natural History of Who Birds Are, Where They Came From, and How They Live|page=[https://archive.org/details/birdnaturalhisto0000tudg/page/116 116]|publisher=Random House Digital|isbn=978-0-307-34204-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/birdnaturalhisto0000tudg/page/116}}</ref> and includes only the cassowaries in the family Casuariidae, placing the emus in their own family, [[Dromaiidae]]. The [[cladogram]] shown below is from their study.<ref name=Mitchell>{{cite journal |author1=Mitchell, K.J. |author2=Llamas, B. |author3=Soubrier, J. |author4=Rawlence, N.J. |author5=Worthy, T.H. |author6=Wood, J. |author7=Lee, M.S.Y. |author8=Cooper, A. |year=2014 |title=Ancient DNA reveals elephant birds and kiwi are sister taxa and clarifies ratite bird evolution |journal=Science |volume=344 |issue=6186 |pages=898–900 |doi=10.1126/Science.1251981 |pmid=24855267 |bibcode=2014Sci...344..898M |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262562180 |hdl=2328/35953 |s2cid=206555952 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
{{clade|style=font-size:85%; line-height:85%
|label1=Recent [[paleognath]]s
|1={{Clade
 |1={{Clade
  |1={{Clade
   |1={{Clade
    |1={{Clade
     |1=†[[Aepyornithidae]] (elephant birds)
     |2=[[Apterygidae]] (kiwi)
     }}
    |2={{Clade
     |1='''Dromaiidae''' ('''emus''')
     |2=[[Casuariidae]] (cassowaries)
     }}
    }}
   |2={{Clade
    |1=†[[Dinornithiformes]] (moa)
    |2=[[Tinamidae]] (tinamous)
    }}
   }}
  |2=[[Rheidae]] (rheas)
 }}
|2=[[Struthionidae]] (ostriches)
}}
}}

Two different ''Dromaius'' species were present in Australia at the time of European settlement, and one additional species is known from fossil remains. The [[insular dwarf]] emus, ''[[Kangaroo Island emu|D. n. baudinianus]]'' and ''[[King Island emu|D. n. minor]]'', originally present on [[Kangaroo Island]] and [[King Island (Tasmania)|King Island]] respectively, both became [[extinction|extinct]] shortly after the arrival of Europeans.<ref name="AM">{{cite web|author=Boles, Walter |publisher=Australian Museum |url=https://australian.museum/learn/animals/birds/emu/ |title=Emu |date=6 April 2010 |access-date=18 July 2015}}</ref><ref name=Heupink>{{cite journal|author1=Heupink, Tim H. |author2=Huynen, Leon |author3=Lambert, David M. | year=2011|title=Ancient DNA suggests dwarf and 'giant' emu are conspecific|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=6|issue=4 |page= e18728| doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0018728|pmid=21494561|pmc=3073985| bibcode=2011PLoSO...618728H|doi-access=free }}</ref> ''[[Tasmanian emu|D. n. diemenensis]]'', another insular dwarf emu from [[Tasmania]], became extinct around 1865. The mainland subspecies, ''D. n. novaehollandiae'', remains common. The population of these birds varies from decade to decade, largely being dependent on rainfall; in 2009, it was estimated that there were between 630,000 and 725,000 birds.<ref name=BirdLife/> Emus were introduced to [[Maria Island]]<ref name=Williams>{{cite book|author=Williams, W.D.|title=Biogeography and Ecology in Tasmania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pp3qCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA450 |year=2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-94-010-2337-5 |page=450 }}</ref> off Tasmania, and Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia, during the 20th century. The Maria Island population died out in the mid-1990s. The Kangaroo Island birds have successfully established a breeding population.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frith, Harold James|title=Wildlife conservation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RAsKAQAAMAAJ |year=1973 |publisher=Angus and Robertson |page=308|isbn=9780207126888}}</ref>

In 1912, the Australian ornithologist [[Gregory M. Mathews]] recognised three living subspecies of emu,<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mathews, Gregory M. |year=1912 |title=Class: Aves; Genus ''Dromiceius'' |journal=Novitates Zoologicae |volume=XVIII |issue=3 |pages=175–176 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/22250#page/199/mode/1up }}</ref> ''D. n. novaehollandiae'' (Latham, 1790),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=C4C362A9&sec=summary&ssver=1 |title=Emu (South Eastern): ''Dromaius novaehollandiae [novaehollandiae'' or ''rothschildi''] (= ''Dromaius novaehollandiae novaehollandiae'') (Latham, 1790) |work=Avibase |access-date=5 September 2015}}</ref> ''D. n. woodwardi'' Mathews, 1912<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=A789F41C&sec=summary&ssver=1 |title=Emu (Northern): ''Dromaius novaehollandiae novaehollandiae'' (woodwardi) (= ''Dromaius novaehollandiae woodwardi'') Mathews, 1912 |work=Avibase |access-date=5 September 2015}}</ref> and ''[[Rothschild's emu|D. n. rothschildi]]'' Mathews, 1912.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=AEA00567&sec=summary&ssver=1 |title=Emu (South Western): ''Dromaius novaehollandiae rothschildi'' Mathews, 1912 |work=Avibase |access-date=5 September 2015}}</ref> The [[Handbook of the Birds of the World]], however, argues that the last two of these subspecies are invalid; natural variations in plumage colour and the nomadic nature of the species make it likely that there is a single race in mainland Australia.<ref name=HBWA/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/updates/subspecies/ |title=Subspecies Updates |work=IOC World Bird List, v 5.2 |editor=Gill, Frank |editor2=Donsker, David |access-date=14 July 2015}}</ref> Examination of the DNA of the King Island emu shows this bird to be closely related to the mainland emu and hence best treated as a subspecies.<ref name=Heupink />