BioProject

Darwin's rhea or the lesser rhea (Pterocnemia pennata) is a large flightless bird, the smaller of the two extant species of rheas. It is found in the Altiplano and Patagonia in South America (Wikipedia entry). Two alternative scientific names have been used for this species, Pterocnemia pennata and Rhea pennata. This sample is from a male collected in San Diego Zoo, California, coordinated by Oliver Ryder, and used to generate a high-quality reference for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP). Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted in the Vertebrate Genome Lab at the Rockefeller University, led by Olivier Fedrigo and Erich D. Jarvis.