The sungrebe (Heliornis fulica) is a small aquatic gruiforme found in the tropical and subtropical Americas from northeastern Mexico to central Ecuador and southern Brazil. It is the only living member of the genus Heliornis. The family Heliornithidae, to which it belongs, contains just two other species: the African finfoot, Podica senegalensis, found in the Afrotropics from Sub-saharan West Africa and the Congo Basin through the Great Lakes' western shores to Southeast Africa, and the masked or Masked finfoot Heliopais personatus, found from eastern Indomalaya down through Sundaland to the Wallace Line.