query: parent_taxon phoenicopteridae
supports: The bee hummingbird, zunzuncito or Helena hummingbird ("Mellisuga helenae") is a species of hummingbird. Phoenicopteridae is a wading bird family including flamingos and their close extinct relatives . Flamingos and their relatives are well attested in the fossil record , with the first unequivocal member of the Phoenicopteridae , Elornis known from the late Eocene epoch . A considerable number of little - known birds from the Late Cretaceous onwards are sometimes considered to be flamingo ancestors . These include the genera Torotix , Scaniornis , Gallornis , Agnopterus , Tiliornis , Juncitarsus , and Kashinia ; these show a mix of characters and are fairly plesiomorphic in comparison to modern birds . ( The supposed `` Cretaceous flamingo '' Parascaniornis is actually a synonym of Baptornis and not a close relative to any living bird . ) An extinct family of peculiar `` swimming flamingos '' , the Palaelodidae , are believed to be related to , or to be the ancestors of , the modern flamingos . This is sometimes rejected , since the fossil Elornis is known to be from some time before any palaelodid flamingos have been recorded . A passerine is any bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. A notable feature of passerines compared to other orders of Aves is the arrangement of their toes, three pointing forward and one back, which facilitates perching. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders, with over 5,000 identified species. It has roughly twice as many species as the largest of the mammal orders, the Rodentia. It contains more than 110 families, the second-most of any order of tetrapods (after Squamata, the scaled reptiles).
  The passerines contain several groups of brood parasites such as the viduas, cuckoo-finches, and the cowbirds. Most passerines are omnivorous, while the shrikes are carnivorous. The superclass Tetrapoda (Ancient Greek s tetrapods, "four-footed"), or the tetrapods , comprises the first four-limbed vertebrates and their descendants, including the living and extinct amphibians, birds, mammals, reptiles and some ancient, exclusively aquatic creatures such as the Acanthostega. Tetrapods evolved from the lobe-finned fishes around 390 million years ago in the middle Devonian Period, with modern tetrapod groups having appeared by the late Devonian, 367.5 million years ago. The specific aquatic ancestors of the tetrapods, and the process by which land colonization occurred, remain unclear, and are areas of active research and debate among palaeontologists at present. Vertebrates comprise all species of animals within the subphylum Vertebrata (chordates with backbones). Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, with currently about 64,000 species described. Vertebrates include the jawless fish and the jawed vertebrates, which include the cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays) and the bony fish.  The ear is the organ of hearing and, in mammals, balance. In mammals, the ear is usually described as having three partsthe outer ear, middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear consists of the pinna and the ear canal. Since the outer ear is the only visible portion of the ear in most animals, the word "ear" often refers to the external part alone. The middle ear includes the tympanic cavity and the three ossicles. The inner ear sits in the bony labyrinth, and contains structures which are key to several senses: the semicircular canals, which enable balance and eye tracking when moving; the utricle and saccule, which enable balance when stationary; and the cochlea, which enables hearing. The ears of vertebrates are placed somewhat symmetrically on either side of the head, an arrangement that aids sound localisation. A songbird is a bird belonging to the clade Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as a scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin "oscen", "a songbird". This group contains some 4,000 species found all over the world, in which the vocal organ typically is developed in such a way as to produce a diverse and elaborate bird song. Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade Dinosauria that first appeared during the Triassic. Although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is the subject of active research, the current scientific consensus places their origin between 231 and 243 million years ago. They became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates after the TriassicJurassic extinction event 201 million years ago. Their dominance continued through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and ended when the CretaceousPaleogene extinction event led to the extinction of most dinosaur groups 66 million years ago. The ostrich or common ostrich ("Struthio camelus") is either one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus "Struthio", which is in the ratite family. In 2014, the Somali ostrich ("Struthio molybdophanes") was recognized as a distinct species. Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of wading bird in the family Phoenicopteridae, the only family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species in the Americas and two species in the Old World.
  Etymology.
  "Flamingo" comes from Portuguese or Spanish "flamengo", "flame-colored", in turn coming from Provençal "flamenc" from "flama" "flame" and Germanic-like suffix "-ing", with a possible influence of words like "Fleming". A similar etymology has the Latinate Greek term "Phoenicopterus" (from "phoinikopteros"), literally "blood red-feathered".] Hummingbirds are birds from the Americas that constitute the family Trochilidae. They are among the smallest of birds, most species measuring . Indeed, the smallest extant bird species is a hummingbird, the 5-cm bee hummingbird weighing less than a U.S. penny (2.5 g). An endotherm (from Greek  "endon" "within" and  "therm" "heat") is an organism that maintains its body at a metabolically favorable temperature, largely by the use of heat set free by its internal bodily functions instead of relying almost purely on ambient heat. Such internally generated heat is mainly an incidental product of the animal's routine metabolism, but under conditions of excessive cold or low activity an endotherm might apply special mechanisms adapted specifically to heat production. Examples include special-function muscular exertion such as shivering, and uncoupled oxidative metabolism such as within brown adipose tissue.
  Only birds and mammals are extant universally endothermic groups of animals. Certain lamnid sharks, tuna and billfishes are also endothermic. Birds (Aves), also known as avian dinosaurs, are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a lightweight but strong skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the ostrich. They rank as the class of tetrapods with the most living species, at approximately ten thousand, with more than half of these being passerines, sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds. In the context of human society, a family (from ) is a group of people affiliated either by consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage or any other relationship like siblings families etc..), or co-residence (as implied by the etymology of the English word "family") 
  or some combination of these. Members of the immediate family include spouses, parents, brothers, sisters, sons, and/or daughters. Members of the extended family may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, and/or siblings-in-law. Sometimes these are also considered members of the immediate family, depending on an individual's specific relationship with them. Phoenicopteriformes is a group of water bird including the flamingos and their extinct relatives.
candidates: animal areas bird chordata dinosaur flamingo human mammal mellisuga ostrich passeri phoenicopteridae phoenicopteriformes pinna squamata tetrapoda trochilidae vertebrata
answer: phoenicopteriformes