The wattled crane (Grus carunculata) is a large, threatened species of crane found in wetlands and grasslands of eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia to South Africa. It is sometimes placed in the monotypic genus Bugeranus. Taxonomy The first formal description of the wattled crane was by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in 1789 under the binomial name Ardea carunculata. Gmelin based his account on the "wattled heron" that had been described and illustrated by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1785. The specific epithet is from the Latin caruncula meaning "a small piece of flesh". The wattled crane was formerly placed in its own genus Bugeranus. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that the genus Grus within the crane family was not monophyletic and that the wattled crane was a sister species to a clade containing the blue crane and the demoiselle crane. In the resulting reorganization of the genera, the wattled crane was moved to the genus Grus. Some taxonomists retain the wattled crane within Bugeranus. The wattled crane is monotypic: there are no recognised subspecies. Description At a height known to range from , it is the largest crane in Africa and is the second tallest species of crane in the world, after the sarus crane. It is also the tallest flying bird native to Africa third only among all birds to the two species of ostrich. The wattled crane is taller and, despite the appearance of gracility imparted by its sharp but slim beak and slender neck and legs, is the heaviest on average of several very large, long-legged waders in Africa (i.e. the 2 largest African storks, shoebill, greater flamingo, goliath heron). It is also roughly the fourth heaviest African flying bird after the great white pelican, the much more sexually dimorphic kori bustard and cape vulture. The wingspan is , the length is typically and weight is in females and in males. Among standard measurements, the wing chord length is , the exposed culmen is and the tarsus is . Going on standard measurements, it is the second largest proportioned crane after the sarus species, outsizing in these respects even the ostentatiously heavier red-crowned crane. Three adult wattled cranes averaged . The back and wings are ashy gray. The feathered portion of the head is dark slate gray above the eyes and on the crown, but is otherwise white, including