Tachyeres
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| Steamer Ducks | ||||||||||||
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 Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck, Tachyeres brachypterus
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Tachyeres patachonicus |
Tachyeres (Steamer Ducks)[1] is a genus of ducks in the bird family Anatidae. All of the four species occur in South America, and all except T. patachonicus are flightless; even this one species capable of flight rarely takes to the air.
They are usually placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. However, mtDNA sequence analyses of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes (Johnson & Sorenson, 1999) indicate that Tachyeres rather belongs into a distinct clade of aberrant South American dabbling ducks, which also includes the Brazilian, the Crested, and the Bronze-winged Ducks.
There are four species:
- Flying Steamer Duck Tachyeres patachonicus
- Magellanic Flightless Steamer Duck Tachyeres pteneres
- White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck Tachyeres leucocephalus
- Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck Tachyeres brachypterus
The White-headed Flightless Steamer Duck was only described in 1981.
[edit] References
- Johnson, Kevin P. & Sorenson, Michael D. (1999): Phylogeny and biogeography of dabbling ducks (genus Anas): a comparison of molecular and morphological evidence. Auk 116(3): 792–805. PDF fulltext
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Tachyeres, "having fast oars" or "fast rower", from Ancient Greek tachy- "fast" + eret, "oar" . The common name "steamer ducks" derives from the fact that, when swimming fast, they flap their wings into the water as well as using their feet, creating an effect like a paddle steamer.
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