The Anserinae are a
subfamily
In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...
in the
waterfowl
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 in ...
family
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
. It includes the
swan
Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
s and true
geese
A goose (plural, : geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family (biology), family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera ''Anser (bird), Anser'' (the grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (the black geese). Some o ...
. Under alternative
systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae contain the geese and the ducks, while the Cygninae contain the swans.
Systematics
Swan
Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form t ...
s (Tribe
Cygnini
Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometim ...
)
*Genus ''
Cygnus'' – true swans: The black-and-yellow-billed swans are sometimes separated in the genus ''Olor''.
*Genus †''
Afrocygnus
''Afrocygnus'' is an extinct genus of swan, which lived during the Late Miocene, and perhaps up to the Late Pliocene, in what is today North Africa. The only genus of swan known in Africa, aside from fragmentary Pleistocene remains found in East ...
'' (
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recen ...
of
North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
)
*Genus †''
Annakacygna
''Annakacygna'' is a genus of flightless marine swan from the Miocene of Japan. Named in 2022, ''Annakacygna'' displays a series of unique adaptations setting it apart from any other known swan, including a filter feeding lifestyle, a highly mob ...
–'' short-winged swans (Miocene of
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
)
*Genus †''
Megalodytes'' (Miocene of Japan and
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
)
True geese (Tribe Anserini)
*Genus ''
Anser
Anser may refer to:
People
* Anser (poet), poet of ancient Rome
* Anser Farooq, Canadian lawyer
Other uses
* ANSER, a security and defense analysis group
* ''Anser'' (bird), a genus of geese
* Anser (putter), a model of golf club made by Pin ...
'' – grey and white geese
*Genus ''
Branta
The black geese of the genus ''Branta'' are waterfowl belonging to the true geese and swans subfamily Anserinae. They occur in the northern coastal regions of the Palearctic and all over North America, migrating to more southernly coasts in wi ...
'' – black geese
Unresolved
*Genus ''
Coscoroba
The coscoroba swan (''Coscoroba coscoroba'') is a species of waterfowl in subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the bi ...
'' – coscoroba swan
These two genera are distinct from other geese and often elevated to a subfamily of their own (Cereopsinae), or alternatively into the
shelduck
The shelducks, most species of which are found in the genus ''Tadorna'' (except for the Radjah shelduck, which is now found in its own monotypic genus ''Radjah''), are a group of large birds in the Tadorninae subfamily of the Anatidae, the biologi ...
subfamily Tadorninae:
Tribe Cereopseini
*Genus ''
Cereopsis
The Cape Barren goose (''Cereopsis novaehollandiae'') is a large goose resident in southern Australia.
Etymology
The species' common name is derived from Cape Barren Island, where specimens were first sighted by European explorers. It is known ...
'' – Cape Barren goose
*Genus †''
Cnemiornis
The New Zealand goose is the common name given to the extinct genus ''Cnemiornis'' of the family Anatidae, subfamily Anserinae.
The genus, endemic to New Zealand, consisted of two species: the North Island goose, ''C. gracilis'' and the ...
'' – New Zealand geese (
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...
)
Some enigmatic
subfossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...
s of very large goose-like birds from the
Hawaiian Islands
The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...
do not appear to be
moa-nalo
The moa-nalo are a group of extinct aberrant, goose-like ducks that lived on the larger Hawaiian Islands, except Hawaii itself, in the Pacific. They were the major herbivores on most of these islands until they became extinct after human settle ...
s (goose-sized
dabbling duck
The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae ( swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a yo ...
s). They cannot be assigned to any genus living today, though most, if not all, may be fairly close to ''Branta'':
* ''
Geochen rhuax'' – initially allied with ''Cereopsis'', but this seems hardly correct for reasons of
biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...
.
*
Giant Hawaiʻi goose, ?''Branta'' sp.
* Giant Oʻahu goose,
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family of water birds that includes ducks, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for swimming, floating ...
sp. et gen. indet.
References
* Terres, John K. &
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...
(1991): ''The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds''. Wings Books, New York.
Further reading
*
External links
{{Authority control
Bird subfamilies
Extant Miocene first appearances
Taxa named by Nicholas Aylward Vigors