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Mergansers
''Mergus'' is the genus of the typical mergansers , fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird. The common merganser (''Mergus merganser'') and red-breasted merganser (''M. serrator'') have broad ranges in the northern hemisphere. The Brazilian merganser (''M. octosetaceus'') is a South American duck, and one of the six most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild. The scaly-sided merganser or "Chinese merganser" (''M. squamatus'') is an endangered species. It lives in temperate East Asia, breeding in the north and wintering in the south. The hooded merganser (''Lophodytes cucullatus'', formerly known as ''Mergus cucullatus'') is not of this genus but is closely related. The other "aberrant" merganser, the smew (''Mergellus albellus''), is phylogenetically closer to goldeneyes (''Bucephala''). Although they are sead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-breasted Merganser
The red-breasted merganser (''Mergus serrator'') is a diving duck, one of the sawbills. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''serrator'' is a sawyer from Latin ''serra'', "saw". The red-breasted merganser was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name ''Mergus serrator''. Description The adult red-breasted merganser is long with a wingspan. The red-breasted merganser weight ranges from . It has a spiky crest and long thin red bill with serrated edges. The male has a dark head with a green sheen, a white neck with a rusty breast, a black back, and white underparts. Adult females have a rusty head and a grayish body. Juveniles look similar to females, but lack the white collar and have smaller white wing patches. Voice The call of the female is a rasping ''prrak prrak'', while the male ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazilian Merganser
The Brazilian merganser (''Mergus octosetaceus'') is a South American diving duck in the Mergus genus. It is one of the six most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild and a few kept in captivity in Brazil. The origin of its name is from its long, sharp-edged beak that has a great number of teeth-looking edges. Description This merganser is a dark, slender duck with a shiny dark-green hood with a long crest, which is usually shorter and more worn-looking in females. Upperparts are dark grey while the breast is light grey, getting paler toward the whitish belly, and a white wing patch is particularly noticeable in flight. It has a long thin jagged black bill with red feet and legs. Although females are smaller with a shorter bill and crest, both sexes are alike in color. The slender ducks range in size from 49 centimeters to 56 centimeters as an adult. Young Brazilian mergansers are mainly black with white throat and breast. The Brazi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smew
The smew (''Mergellus albellus'') is a species of duck, and is the only living member of the genus ''Mergellus''. ''Mergellus'' is a diminutive of '' Mergus'' and ''albellus'' is from Latin ''albus'' "white". This genus is closely related to ''Mergus'' and is sometimes included in it, though it might be closer to the goldeneyes (''Bucephala''). The smew has hybridized with the common goldeneye (''B. clangula''). A seaduck fossil from the Middle Miocene shows that birds similar to smew existed up to 13 million years ago. The extant species dates back to the Late Pleistocene. Name The term ''smew'' has been used since the 17th century and is of uncertain origin. It is believed to be related to the Dutch ''smient'' ("wigeon") and the German ''Schmeiente'' or '' Schmünte'', "wild duck." It is probably derived from ''smee'', a dialectal term for a wild duck. Description The drake smew, with its 'cracked ice' or 'panda' appearance, is unmistakable, and looks very black-and- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Red-breasted Merganser
The red-breasted merganser (''Mergus serrator'') is a diving duck, one of the sawbills. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''serrator'' is a sawyer from Latin ''serra'', "saw". The red-breasted merganser was one of the many bird species originally described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'', where it was given the binomial name ''Mergus serrator''. Description The adult red-breasted merganser is long with a wingspan. The red-breasted merganser weight ranges from . It has a spiky crest and long thin red bill with serrated edges. The male has a dark head with a green sheen, a white neck with a rusty breast, a black back, and white underparts. Adult females have a rusty head and a grayish body. Juveniles look similar to females, but lack the white collar and have smaller white wing patches. Voice The call of the female is a rasping ''prrak prrak'', while the male ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Merganser
The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. Taxonomy The first formal description of the common merganser was by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He introduced the current binomial name ''Mergus merganser''. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''merganser'' is derived from ''mergus'' and ''anser'', Latin for "goose". In 1843 John James Audubon used the name "Buff-breasted Merganser" in addition to "goosander" in his book ''The Birds of America''. The three subspecies differ in only minor detail: * ''M. m. merganser'' – Linnaeus, 1758 is found throughout northern Europe and northern Asiatic Russia. * ''M. m. orientalis'' – Gould, 1845 (syn. ''M. m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hooded Merganser
The hooded merganser (''Lophodytes cucullatus'') is a species of merganser. It is the only extant species in the genus ''Lophodytes''. The genus name derives from the Greek language: ''lophos'' meaning 'crest', and ''dutes'' meaning 'diver'. The bird is striking in appearance; both sexes have crests that they can raise or lower, and the breeding plumage of the male is handsomely patterned and coloured. The hooded merganser has a sawbill but is not classified as a typical merganser. Hooded mergansers are the second-smallest species of merganser, with only the smew of Europe and Asia being smaller, and it also is the only merganser whose native habitat is restricted to North America. A species of fossil merganser from the Late Pleistocene of Vero Beach, Florida, was described as ''Querquedula floridana'' (a genus now included in ''Anas''), but upon reexamination turned out to be a species closely related to the hooded merganser; it is now named ''Lophodytes floridanus'', but th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Common Merganser
The common merganser (North American) or goosander (Eurasian) (''Mergus merganser'') is a large seaduck of rivers and lakes in forested areas of Europe, Asia, and North America. The common merganser eats mainly fish. It nests in holes in trees. Taxonomy The first formal description of the common merganser was by Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. He introduced the current binomial name ''Mergus merganser''. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird, and ''merganser'' is derived from ''mergus'' and ''anser'', Latin for "goose". In 1843 John James Audubon used the name "Buff-breasted Merganser" in addition to "goosander" in his book ''The Birds of America''. The three subspecies differ in only minor detail: * ''M. m. merganser'' – Linnaeus, 1758 is found throughout northern Europe and northern Asiatic Russia. * ''M. m. orientalis'' – Gould, 1845 (syn. ''M. m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Merganser
The New Zealand merganser (''Mergus australis''), also known as Auckland merganser or Auckland Islands merganser, was a typical merganser which is now extinct. Description This duck was similar in size to the red-breasted merganser (''Mergus serrator''). The adult male had a dark reddish-brown head, crest and neck, with bluish black mantle and tail and slate grey wings. The female was slightly smaller with a shorter crest. History This bird was first collected when a French expedition led by the explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville on the ships ''L'Astrolabe'' and ''La Zelee'' visited the Auckland Islands in 1840. Its decline was caused by a combination of hunting and predation by introduced mammals. The bird was not flightless, but rather hard to flush; it preferred to hide between rocks when pursued. The last sighting was of a pair shot on January 9, 1902. It was not found in a 1909 search, and a thorough 1972/1973 exploration of possible habitat concluded that it was long ext ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Systema Naturae
' (originally in Latin written ' with the ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers, Gaspard and Johann, Linnaeus was first to use it consistently throughout his book. The first edition was published in 1735. The full title of the 10th edition (1758), which was the most important one, was ' or translated: "System of nature through the three kingdoms of nature, according to classes, orders, genera and species, with characters, differences, synonyms, places". The tenth edition of this book (1758) is considered the starting point of zoological nomenclature. In 1766–1768 Linnaeus published the much enhanced 12th edition, the last under his authorship. Another again enhanced work in the same style and titled "'" was published by Johann Friedrich Gmelin between 1788 a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sternum
The sternum or breastbone is a long flat bone located in the central part of the chest. It connects to the ribs via cartilage and forms the front of the rib cage, thus helping to protect the heart, lungs, and major blood vessels from injury. Shaped roughly like a necktie, it is one of the largest and longest flat bones of the body. Its three regions are the manubrium, the body, and the xiphoid process. The word "sternum" originates from the Ancient Greek στέρνον (stérnon), meaning "chest". Structure The sternum is a narrow, flat bone, forming the middle portion of the front of the chest. The top of the sternum supports the clavicles (collarbones) and its edges join with the costal cartilages of the first two pairs of ribs. The inner surface of the sternum is also the attachment of the sternopericardial ligaments. Its top is also connected to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. The sternum consists of three main parts, listed from the top: * Manubrium * Body (gladiolus) * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anseriformes
Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae (three species of screamers), Anseranatidae (the magpie goose), and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed. Evolution Anseriformes are one of only two types of modern bird to be confirmed present during the Mesozoic alongside the other dinosaurs, and in fact were among the very few birds to survive their extinction, along with their cousins the galliformes. These two groups only occupied two ecological niches during the Mesozoic, living in water and on the ground, while the toothed enantiornithes were the dominant bird ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Temperate
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout the year and more distinct seasonal changes compared to tropical climates, where such variations are often small and usually only have precipitation changes. In temperate climates, not only do latitudinal positions influence temperature changes, but sea currents, prevailing wind direction, continentality (how large a landmass is) and altitude also shape temperate climates. The Köppen climate classification defines a climate as "temperate" C, when the mean temperature is above but below in the coldest month to account for the persistency of frost. However, other climate classifications set the minimum at . Zones and climates The north temperate zone extends from the Tropic of Cancer (approximately 23.5° north latitude) to the Arctic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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