Tinamus

Tinamus is a genus of birds in the tinamou family Tinamidae. This genus comprises some of the larger members of this South American family.

==Taxonomy== The genus Tinamus was introduced in 1783 by the French naturalist Johann Hermann. He placed a single species in the genus, Tinamus soui, the little tinamou. Hermann based the genus name on "Les Tinamous" used by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The word "Tinamú" in the Carib language of French Guiana was used for the tinamous. In 1790 the English ornithologist John Latham introduced a genus with the same name, Tinamus, also based on Buffon's work, and included five species in the genus. He did not specify the type species but in 1840 the English zoologist George Gray designated the type of Tetranus as Tetrao major Gmelin, 1789 and attributed the genus to Latham (1790) and not to Hermann (1783).