Limpkins

Aramidae is a bird family in the order Gruiformes. The limpkin (Aramus guarauna) is the only living member of this family, although other species are known from the fossil record, such as Papulavis annae from the Eocene of France, Aramus paludigrus from the Middle Miocene of Colombia and Badistornis aramus from the Oligocene of South Dakota, USA.

Another Oligocene fossil from Europe, Parvigrus pohli, has been described as a mosaic of the features shared by the limpkins and the cranes. It shares many morphological features with the cranes and limpkins, but also was much smaller than either group, and was more rail-like in its proportions. In the paper describing the fossil, Gerald Mayr suggested that it was similar to the stem species of the Grues (the cranes and limpkins), and that the limpkins evolved massively long bills as a result of the specialisation to feeding on snails. In contrast, the cranes evolved into long-legged forms to walk and probe on open grasslands.