Pygmy goose
| Pygmy geese | |
|---|---|
| |
| Green pygmy goose | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Suborder: | Anseres
|
| Superfamily: | Anatoidea
|
| Family: | Anatidae |
| Genus: | Nettapus Brandt, 1836 |
| Type species | |
| Anas madagascariensis[1] = Anas aurita Gmelin, 1789
| |
| Species | |
| |
| Distribution
N. auritus
N. c. coromandelianus
N. c. albipennisauritus
N. pulchellus
| |
The pygmy geese are a group of very small "
dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae[citation needed] has been questioned, and it appears they form a lineage in an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl, within which they are of unclear affinities.[3] An undescribed fossil species from the late Hemphillian (5.0–4.1 mya) of Jalisco, central Mexico, has also been identified from the distal end of a tarsometatarsus. It is only record of the genus in the New World.[4]
The genus Nettapus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1836.[5] The name is from Ancient Greek nētta meaning "duck" and pous meaning "foot". It was thought that the type species, the African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus), possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose.[6]
There are three
extant species in the genus:[7]
| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
Nettapus auritus | African pygmy goose | Sub-Saharan Africa |
 |
Nettapus coromandelianus | Cotton pygmy goose | northern Australasia and Southeast Asia |
 |
Nettapus pulchellus | Green pygmy goose | northern Australia and southern New Guinea |
Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes.
See also
References
- ^ "Anatidae". aviansystematics.org. The Trust for Avian Systematics. Retrieved 2023-08-05.
- Auk. 103 (4): 737–754.
- .
- ISBN 970-32-3895-5.
- ^ Brandt, Johann Friedrich von (1836). Descriptiones et icones animalium rossicorum novorum vel minus rite cognitorum (in Latin). Vol. Fasciculus 1: Aves. Jussu et sumptibus Academiae Scientiarum. p. 5.
- ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
- ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Screamers, ducks, geese & swans". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
Further reading
- Madge, Steve; Burn, Hilary (1987). Wildfowl : an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world. London: ISBN 0-7470-2201-1.
External links
Media related to Nettapus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Nettapus at Wikispecies