taxon_rank devincenzia
Devincenzia pozzi is an extinct giant flightless predatory bird in the ___MASK7___ Phorusrhacidae or `` terror birds '' that lived from 7 until 5 million years ago in Argentina and Uruguay during the late Miocene and early Pliocene . D . pozzi was formerly known as Onactornis pozzi . It stood about 2 . 5 metres tall . A country is a region that is identified as a distinct national entity in political geography . A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state , as a non - sovereign or formerly sovereign political ___MASK50___ , or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics . Regardless of the physical geography , in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in 1937 and reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945 , a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction . Phorusrhacids , colloquially known as terror birds , are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds ( avian - dinosaurs ) that were the largest ___MASK55___ of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era ; their temporal range covers from 62 to 1 . 8 million years ( Ma ) ago . Latin America is a ___MASK34___ of countries and dependencies in the Americas where Romance languages are predominant . The term originated in 19th century France as " Amérique latine " to consider French - speaking territories in the Americas ( Haiti , French Guiana , Martinique , Guadeloupe , Saint Martin , Saint Barthélemy ) along with the larger ___MASK34___ of countries where Spanish and Portuguese languages prevailed . It is therefore broader than the terms Ibero - America or Hispanic America  though it usually excludes French Canada and modern French Louisiana . An apex predator , also known as an alpha predator or apical predator , is a predator residing at the top of a food chain upon which no other creatures prey . Apex predators are usually defined in terms of trophic dynamics , meaning that apex - predator ___MASK55___ occupy the highest trophic level or levels and play a crucial role in maintaining the health of their ecosystems . One study of marine food webs defined apex predators as greater than trophic level four . The apex predator concept is commonly applied in wildlife management , conservation and ecotourism . The Pliocene ( also Pleiocene ) Epoch is the epoch in the geologic timescale that extends from 5 . 333 million to 2 . 58 million years BP . It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era . The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch . Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale , which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene , the Pliocene also included the Gelasian stage , which lasted from 2 . 588 to 1 . 806 million years ago , and is now included in the Pleistocene . The Gelasian is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy , being the earliest or lowest ___MASK38___ of the Quaternary period / system and Pleistocene epoch / series . It spans the time between 2 . 588 ± 0 . 005 Ma ( million years ago ) and 1 . 806 ± 0 . 005 Ma . It follows the Piacenzian stage ( part of the Pliocene ) and is followed by the Calabrian stage . Flightless birds are birds that through evolution lost the ability to fly . There are over 60 extant ___MASK55___ including the well known ratites ( ostrich , emu , cassowary , rhea and kiwi ) and penguins . The smallest flightless bird is the Inaccessible Island rail ( length 12 . 5 cm , weight 34 . 7 g ). The largest ( both heaviest and tallest ) flightless bird , which is also the largest living bird , is the ostrich ( 2 . 7 m , 156 kg ). Ostriches are farmed for their decorative feathers , meat and their skins , which are used to make leather . Autonomous city is a type of autonomous administrative ___MASK50___ . In biology , a ___MASK55___ ( abbreviated sp ., with the plural form ___MASK55___ abbreviated spp .) is the basic unit of biological classification and a taxonomic rank . A ___MASK55___ is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which two individuals can produce fertile offspring , typically by sexual reproduction . While this definition is often adequate , looked at more closely it is often problematic . For example , in a ___MASK55___ complex , the boundaries between closely related ___MASK55___ become unclear or disappear altogether . Other ways of defining ___MASK55___ include similarity of DNA , morphology , or ecological niche . The presence of locally adaptive traits may further subdivide ___MASK55___ into infraspecific taxa such as subspecies . Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is a federal republic in the southern half of South America . Sharing the bulk of the Southern Cone with its neighbor Chile to the west , the country is also bordered by Bolivia and Paraguay to the north , Brazil to the northeast , Uruguay and the South Atlantic Ocean to the east , and the Drake Passage to the south . With a mainland area of , Argentina is the eighth - largest country in the world , the second largest in Latin America , and the largest Spanish - speaking one . The country is subdivided into twenty - three provinces ( singular " provincia ") and one autonomous city (" ciudad autónoma "), Buenos Aires , which is the federal capital of the nation as decided by Congress . The provinces and the capital have their own constitutions , but exist under a federal system . The ___MASK92___ 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 . 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 ___MASK34___ contains some 4 , 000 ___MASK55___ 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 . Uruguay , officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay , is a country in the southeastern region of South America . It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east , with the Río de la Plata ( River of Silver ) to the south and with the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast . Uruguay is home to an estimated 3 . 42 million people , of whom 1 . 8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city , Montevideo . With an area of approximately , Uruguay is geographically the second - smallest nation in South America , only larger in size than Suriname . Vertebrates comprise all ___MASK55___ of animals within the ___MASK68___ Vertebrata ( chordates with backbones ). Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata , with currently about 64 , 000 ___MASK55___ described . Vertebrates include the jawless fish and the jawed vertebrates , which include the cartilaginous fish ( sharks and rays ) and the bony fish . A province is almost always an administrative ___MASK50___ , within a country or state . The term derives from the ancient Roman " provincia ", which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ' s territorial possessions outside Italy . The term province has since been adopted by many countries , and in those with no actual provinces , it has come to mean " outside the capital city ". While some provinces were produced artificially by colonial powers , others were formed around local groups with their own ethnic identities . Many have their own powers independent of federal authority , especially in Canada . In other countries , like China , provinces are the creation of central government , with very little autonomy . Latin ( Latin : ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic ___MASK80___ of the Indo - European languages . The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Feathers are epidermal growths that ___MASK33___ the distinctive outer covering , or plumage , on birds . They are considered the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates , and indeed a premier example of a complex evolutionary novelty . They are among the characteristics that distinguish the extant birds from other living groups . The heart is a muscular organ in humans and other animals , which pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system . Blood provides the body with oxygen and nutrients , as well as assists in the removal of metabolic wastes . The heart is located between the lungs , in the middle compartment of the chest . In humans , other mammals , and birds , the heart is divided into four chambers : upper left and right atria ; and lower left and right ventricles . Commonly the right atrium and ventricle are referred together as the " right heart " and their left counterparts as the " left heart ". Fish in contrast have two chambers , an atrium and a ventricle , while reptiles have three chambers . In a healthy heart blood flows one way through the heart due to heart valves , which prevent backflow . The heart is enclosed in a protective sac , the pericardium , which also contains a small amount of fluid . The wall of the heart is made up of three layers : epicardium , myocardium , and endocardium . The heart pumps blood with a rhythm determined by a ___MASK34___ of pacemaking cells in the sinoatrial node . These generate a current that causes contraction of the heart , traveling through the atrioventricular node and along the conduction system of the heart . The heart receives blood low in oxygen from the systemic circulation , which enters the right atrium from the superior and inferior venae cavae and passes to the right ventricle . From here it is pumped into the pulmonary circulation , through the lungs where it receives oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide . Oxygenated blood then returns to the left atrium , passes through the left ventricle and is pumped out through the aorta to the systemic circulation  where the oxygen is used and metabolized to carbon dioxide . The heart beats at a resting rate close to 72 beats per minute . Exercise temporarily increases the rate , but lowers resting heart rate in the long term , and is good for heart health . Cardiovascular diseases ( CVD ) are the most common cause of death globally as of 2008 , accounting for 30 % of deaths . Of these more than three quarters are a result of coronary artery disease and stroke . Risk factors include : smoking , being overweight , little exercise , high cholesterol , high blood pressure , and poorly controlled diabetes , among others . Cardiovascular diseases frequently have no symptoms or may cause chest pain or shortness of breath . Diagnosis of heart disease is often done by the taking of a medical history , listening to the heart - sounds with a stethoscope , ECG , and ultrasound . Specialists who focus on diseases of the heart are called cardiologists , although many specialties of medicine may be involved in treatment . A federal republic is a federation of states with a republican ___MASK33___ of government . At its core , the literal meaning of the word republic when used to reference a ___MASK33___ of government means : " a country that is governed by elected representatives and by an elected leader ( such as a president ) rather than by a king or queen ". Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in both South America and Latin America . As the world ' s fifth - largest country by both area and population , it is the largest country to have Portuguese as an official language and the only one in the Americas . Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east , Brazil has a coastline of . It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and covers 47 . 3 % of the continent ' s land area . Its Amazon River basin includes a vast tropical forest , home to diverse wildlife , a ___MASK99___ of ecological systems , and extensive natural resources spanning numerous protected habitats . This unique environmental heritage makes Brazil one of 17 megadiverse countries , and is the subject of significant global interest and debate regarding deforestation and environmental protection . Hummingbirds are birds from the Americas that constitute the ___MASK7___ 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 ). Invertebrates are animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column ( commonly known as a " backbone " or " spine "), derived from the notochord . This includes all animals apart from the ___MASK68___ Vertebrata . Familiar examples of invertebrates include insects ; crabs , lobsters and their kin ; snails , clams , octopuses and their kin ; starfish , sea - urchins and their kin ; and worms . The Miocene is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about ( Ma ). The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell . Its name comes from the Greek words (',  less ) and (',  new ) and means " less recent " because it has 18 % fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene . The Miocene follows the Oligocene Epoch and is followed by the Pliocene Epoch . The bee hummingbird , zunzuncito or Helena hummingbird (" Mellisuga helenae ") is a ___MASK55___ of hummingbird . Dinosaurs are a diverse ___MASK34___ 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 Triassic  Jurassic extinction event 201 million years ago . Their dominance continued through the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and ended when the Cretaceous  Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of most dinosaur groups 66 million years ago . Birds ( Aves ), also known as avian dinosaurs , are a ___MASK34___ 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 ___MASK8___ of tetrapods with the most living ___MASK55___ , at approximately ten thousand , with more than half of these being passerines , sometimes known as perching birds or , less accurately , as songbirds . A clade ( from , " klados ", " ___MASK80___ ") is a group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants , and represents a single " ___MASK80___ " on the " tree of life ". The ostrich or common ostrich (" Struthio camelus ") is either one or two ___MASK55___ of large flightless birds native to Africa , the only living member ( s ) of the ___MASK23___ " Struthio ", which is in the ratite family . In 2014 , the Somali ostrich (" Struthio molybdophanes ") was recognized as a distinct ___MASK55___ . A passerine is any bird of the ___MASK25___ Passeriformes , which includes more than half of all bird ___MASK55___ . 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 ___MASK55___ . It has roughly twice as many ___MASK55___ as the largest of the mammal orders , the Rodentia . It contains more than 110 families , the second - most of any ___MASK25___ 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 .