''Podilymbus'' is a genus of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s in the Grebe family, the genus name is derived from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''Podilymbus'', a

contraction Contraction may refer to: Linguistics * Contraction (grammar), a shortened word * Poetic contraction, omission of letters for poetic reasons * Elision, omission of sounds ** Syncope (phonology), omission of sounds in a word * Synalepha, merged ...

of ''podicipes'' ("feet at the buttocks", from ''podici-'', "rump-" + ''pes'', "foot")—the origin of the name of the grebe

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

—and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''kolymbos'', "diver".Cabard P. and Chauvet B. (2003). ''Etymologie des noms d'oiseaux'' Belin Eveil éditeur, France

Species

The genus contains two

recent The Holocene () is the current geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene together form the Qu ...

species : There are also several prehistoric

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

of ''Podilymbus'' described from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

remains: *''

Podilymbus majusculus ''Podilymbus majusculus'' is an extinct species of grebe recovered from the Piacenzian age of the United States. History The specimens were collected in the summer of 1965 from Idaho, United States by Claude W. Hibbard and the species was name ...

'' (Late Pliocene of Idaho) *''

Podilymbus wetmorei ''Podilymbus wetmorei'' is an extinct species of grebe recovered from the Late Pleistocene age of the United States. History The holotype was collected on March 2, 1957 by American ornithologist and paleontologist Pierce Brodkorb. The holotype ...

'' (Late Pleistocene of Florida) *''Podilymbus podiceps magnus'' - a

paleosubspecies A chronospecies is a species derived from a sequential development pattern that involves continual and uniform changes from an extinct ancestral form on an evolutionary scale. The sequence of alterations eventually produces a population that is p ...

of the pied-billed grebe of uncertain validity.

References

Bird genera Bird genera with one living species Extant Late Pleistocene first appearances Pleistocene birds Pleistocene birds of North America {{Podicipediformes-stub