Dromaius

Dromaius Temporal range: Miocene–present PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Dromaius novaehollandiae
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Palaeognathae
Order:	Casuariiformes
Family:	Casuariidae
Genus:	Dromaius Vieillot, 1816[1]
Type species
Casuarius novaehollandiae[2] Latham, 1790
Species
D. novaehollandiae (Latham, 1790) Vieillot, 1816 †D. ocypus Miller, 1963
Geographic distribution of emu taxa and historic shoreline reconstructions around Tasmania
Synonyms
Dromiceius (sic) Vieillot, 1816 Dromæus (sic) Ranzani, 1821 Dromicejus (sic) Wagler, 1830 Dromiceus (sic) Wagler, 1830 Dromaeus (sic) Agassiz, 1842 Dromajus (sic) Thienemann, 1845 Dromaeius (sic) Bonaparte, 1856 Dromeicus (sic) A. Newton,1893 Emou Griffith & Pidgeon, 1829 Peronista Mathews, 1912 Tachea Fleming, 1822

Dromaius (from greek δρομαίυς "runner") is a genus of ratite present in Australia. There is one extant species, Dromaius novaehollandiae, commonly known as the emu.

In his original 1816 description of the emu, Louis Pierre Vieillot used two generic names; first Dromiceius, then Dromaius a few pages later. Which label is correct has been a point of contention ever since; the latter is more correctly formed, but the convention in taxonomy is that the first name given stands, unless it is clearly a typographical error, as argued by W.B. Alexander.^[3] For names published on the same day, or in the same publication, the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature states that both names have equal precedence, and that the Principle of First Reviser (Article 24.2 ^[4]) determines which name is to be used. Most modern publications, including those of the Australian government,^[5] use Dromaius, with Dromiceius mentioned as an alternative spelling. Misspellings of both forms by later authors have produced further synonyms.^[5] The Dromiceius spelling was the basis for Dale Russell's 1972 naming of the dinosaur Dromiceiomimus.