Editing Cassowary (section)

== Taxonomy, systematics, and evolution ==
The [[genus]] ''Casuarius'' was erected by French scientist [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]] in his {{lang|fr|Ornithologie}} published in 1760.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes & leurs variétés | volume=1 | language=fr, la | at=[https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010444 Vol. 1, p. 46], [https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36294276 Vol. 5: p. 10, Plate 1 fig 2] | place=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche }}</ref> The [[type species]] is the [[southern cassowary]] (''Casuarius casuarius'').<ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume= 1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=7 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16108628 }}</ref> The Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] had introduced the genus ''Casuarius'' in the sixth edition of his {{lang|la|[[Systema Naturae]]}} published in 1748,<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1748 | title= Systema Naturae sistens regna tria naturæ, in classes et ordines, genera et species redacta tabulisque aeneis illustrata | edition=6th | publisher=Godofr, Kiesewetteri | place=Stockholmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | pages=16, 27 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/25749139 }}</ref> but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of 1758 and put the southern cassowary together with the [[common ostrich]] and the [[greater rhea]] in the genus ''[[Ostrich#Taxonomic history|Struthio]]''.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=155 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | place=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=la | url= https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727062 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Allen | first=J.A. | author-link=Joel Asaph Allen | year=1910 | title=Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus |journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History |volume=28 | pages=317–335 |hdl= 2246/678 | hdl-access=free }}</ref> As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the [[International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature]], Brisson, and not Linnaeus, is considered the authority for the genus.<ref>{{cite book | chapter=Article 3 | year=1999 |title=International Code of Zoological Nomenclature | edition=4th | isbn=978-0-85301-006-7 | place=London | publisher=International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature |url=http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted-sites/iczn/code/index.jsp?article=3&nfv=true }}</ref>

Cassowaries (from {{langx|ms|kasuari}}<ref>{{cite OED | cassowary}}</ref> cognate of several [[Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian languages|related languages]] spoken around the [[Moluccas]] and [[New Guinea]]<ref>{{Cite book|quote=Cognates occur in [...] [[Alune language|Alune]] ''kafwali'', [[Amahai language|Amahai]] ''asuwaro'', [[Elpaputih]] ''asawari'', [[Manusela language|Manusela]] ''asuwalia'', [[Masiwang language|Masiwang]] ''asawais'', [[Ambelau language|Ambelau]] ''kaswari'', [[Kayeli language|Kayeli]] ''kasawari'', [[Nusa Laut language|Nusalaut]] ''asuwalyo'', [[Saparua language|Saparua]] ''asawallo'', [[Haruku language|Haruku]] ''kasawari''...[[Kowiai language|Kowiai]] ''asawar'', [[Onin language|Onin]] ''kasawari'', [[Biak language|Biak]] ''manswar'', [[Dusner language|Dusner]] ''masuar'', Windesi ''maswa'', [[Sobei language|Sobei]] ''swodi'', [[Tarpia language|Tarfia]] ''kasur'', [[Yotafa language|Yotafa]] ''hetuwar''...|pages=192–3|first=Waruno|last=Mahdi|author-link=:pl:Waruno Mahdi|title=Malay Words and Malay Things: Lexical Souvenirs from an Exotic Archipelago in German Publications Before 1700|date=2007 |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |isbn=978-3-447-05492-8|url=https://www.waruno.de/myling.html#2007}}</ref>) are part of the [[ratite]] group, which also includes the emu, [[rhea (bird)|rheas]], ostriches, and [[Kiwi (bird)|kiwi]], as well as the extinct [[moa]]s and [[elephant bird]]s. These species are recognised:
{{Species table |genus= Casuarius |authority-name=[[Mathurin Jacques Brisson|Brisson]] |authority-year=1760 |species-count=Four|no-note=y|narrow-percent=73}}

{{Species table/row
|name= [[Southern cassowary]] or double-wattled cassowary|binomial=[[Casuarius casuarius]]
|image=File:Casuaris casuaris 2008-11-02 329.JPG|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Linnaeus|authority-year=1758|authority-not-original=yes
|range= southern [[New Guinea]], northeastern [[Australia]], and the [[Aru Islands Regency|Aru Islands]], mainly in lowlands{{r|Clements2007}}
|range-image=File:Casuarius distribution map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
|habitat=
|hunting=
|iucn-status= LC
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}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Northern cassowary]] or single-wattled cassowary |binomial=[[Casuarius unappendiculatus]]
|image=File:Casuarius unappendiculatus -Northern Cassowary -oblique front.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Blyth |authority-year=1860 |authority-not-original=
|range=  Northern and western New Guinea, and [[Yapen Island|Yapen]], mainly in lowlands{{r|Clements2007}}<ref name=Davies2002>{{harvp|Davies|2002}}.</ref>
|range-image=File:Casuarius unappendiculatus distribution map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
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|iucn-status= LC
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{{Species table/row
|name=[[Dwarf cassowary]] or Bennett's cassowary  |binomial=[[Casuarius bennetti]]
|image=File:Casuarius bennetti Drwarf Cassowary Papua New Guinea by Nick Hobgood.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Gould |authority-year=1857 |authority-not-original=
|range= New Guinea, [[New Britain]], and Yapen, mainly in highlands{{r|Clements2007}}
|range-image=File:Casuarius bennetti distribution map.png
|range-image-size=180px
|size=
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|iucn-status= LC
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}}

{{Species table/row
|name=[[Extinction|†]] [[Pygmy cassowary]] or small cassowary |binomial=[[Casuarius lydekkeri]]
|image=|image-size=180px |image-alt=
|authority-name=Rothschild|authority-year=1911|authority-not-original=
|range=  [[Pleistocene]] fossils of New South Wales<ref>{{cite journal| last = Miller | first = Alden H.|title =The history and significance of the fossil Casuarius lydekkeri| journal = Records of the Australian Museum| date= June 19, 1962 | publisher = The Australian Museum| url = https://media.australianmuseum.net.au/media/Uploads/Journals/17417/662_complete.pdf |pages= 235–238 |volume= 25 |issue= 10 |doi= 10.3853/j.0067-1975.25.1962.662| access-date = March 20, 2017}}</ref> and [[Papua New Guinea]]<ref name="Rich et al 1988">{{cite journal |last1=Rich |first1=P. V. |last2=Plane |first2=Michael |last3=Schroeder |first3=Natalie |title=A pygmy cassowary (Casuarius lydekkeri) from late Pleistocene bog deposits at Pureni, Papua New Guinea |journal=[[BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics]] |date= 1988 |volume= 10 |pages= 377–389 |url=https://d28rz98at9flks.cloudfront.net/81234/Jou1988_v10_n4_p377.pdf}}</ref>
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|iucn-status= EX
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}}

{{Species table/end}}

Most authorities consider the taxonomic classification above to be [[monotypic]], but several [[subspecies]] of each have been described,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.perron.eu/Publications/All%20cassowaries.html|title=The Taxonomy of the Genus Cassowarius|website=perron.eu|access-date=July 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305031102/http://www.perron.eu/Publications/All%20cassowaries.html|archive-date=2016-03-05|url-status=dead}}</ref> and some of them have even been suggested as separate species, e.g., ''C. (b) papuanus''.{{r|Davies2002}} The taxonomic name ''C. (b) papuanus'' also may be in need of revision to ''Casuarius (bennetti) westermanni''.{{sfnp|Perron|2011|pp=54–8}} Validation of these subspecies has proven difficult due to individual variations, age-related variations, the scarcity of [[biological specimen|specimens]], the stability of specimens (the bright skin of the head and neck—the basis of describing several subspecies—fades in specimens), and the practice of trading live cassowaries for thousands of years, some of which are likely to have escaped or been deliberately [[Introduced species|introduced]] to regions away from their origin.{{r|Davies2002}}

The evolutionary history of cassowaries, as of all ratites, is not well known. Genetic evidence suggests that their closest living relatives are [[emu]]s, and that the dwarf cassowary is more closely related to the Northern Cassowary than either is to the Southern cassowary.<ref name=":0" /> A fossil species was reported from Australia, but for reasons of [[biogeography]], this assignment is not certain, and it might belong to the prehistoric ''[[Emuarius]]'', which was a genus of cassowary-like primitive emus.<!-- Auk80:584 -->