The domesticated turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is a large poultry bird, one of the two species in the genus Meleagris and the same as the wild turkey. Although turkey domestication was thought to have occurred in central Mesoamerica at least 2,000 years ago, recent research suggests a possible second domestication event in the Southwestern United States between 200 BC and AD 500. However, all of the commercial domesticated turkey varieties today descend from the domesticated turkey raised in central Mexico that was subsequently imported into Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century.