Taxonomy
The recognized extant species are:
- Greater Rhea Rhea americana
- R. a. americana, found in the cerrados (bushlands) of central and eastern Brazil.
- R. a. intermedia, southeastern Brazil in Rio Grande do Sul and Uruguay.
- R. a. nobilis, eastern Paraguay, east of Rio Paraguay.
- R. a. araneipes, chaco of Paraguay to Bolivia and Mato Grosso in Brazil.
- R. a. albescens, plains of Argentina south to Rio Negro.
- Lesser Rhea Rhea pennata
- R. p. garleppi, puna of southeastern Peru, southwestern Bolivia, and northwestern Argentina.
- R. p. tarapacensis, northern Chile from Atacama to Tarapacá.
- R. p. pennata, Patagonian steppes in southern Argentina and southern Chile.
Rhea pennata was not always in the Rhea genus. In 2008 the SACC, the last holdout, approved the merging of the genera, Rhea and Pterocnemia on August 7, 2008. This merging of genera leaves only the Rhea genus. A third species of rhea, Rhea nana, was described by Lydekker in 1894 based on a single egg found in Patagonia, but today no major authorities consider it valid.
Read more about this topic: Rhea (bird)