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Alopochen
''Alopochen'' is a genus of the bird family (biology), family Anatidae, part of the subfamily Tadorninae along with the shelducks. It contains one extant species, the Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca''), and three which became extinct in the last 1,000 years or so. The Egyptian goose is native to mainland Africa, and the recently extinct species are from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. mtDNA cytochrome b, cytochrome ''b'' DNA sequence, sequence data suggest that the relationships of ''Alopochen'' to ''Tadorna'' need further investigation. Species * Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') The extinct species of the genus are: * †Malagasy shelduck or Madagascar shelduck (''Alopochen sirabensis'') (Andrews 1897) (may be a subspecies of ''A. mauritiana'') – Madagascar, Late Pleistocene: see Late Quaternary prehistoric birds * †Mauritius sheldgoose (''Alopochen mauritiana'') (Newton & Gadow 1893) – Mauritius, late 1690s * †Réunion sheldgoose or Kervazo's Eg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Egyptian Goose
The Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') is an African member of the Anatidae family including ducks, geese, and swans. Because of their popularity chiefly as an ornamental bird, the species has also been introduced to Europe, the United States and elsewhere outside their natural range. Egyptian geese were regularly represented in ancient Egyptian art. Taxonomy The Egyptian goose was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his ''Systema Naturae'' under the binomial name ''Anas aegyptiaca''. Linnaeus partly based his account on the "L'oye d'Egypte" that had been described and illustrated in 1760 by the French ornithologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his ''Ornithologie''. Brisson used the Latin name ''Anser Egyptiatiacus'' but although he coined Latin names for species, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. The Egyptian goose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alopochen
''Alopochen'' is a genus of the bird family (biology), family Anatidae, part of the subfamily Tadorninae along with the shelducks. It contains one extant species, the Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca''), and three which became extinct in the last 1,000 years or so. The Egyptian goose is native to mainland Africa, and the recently extinct species are from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands. mtDNA cytochrome b, cytochrome ''b'' DNA sequence, sequence data suggest that the relationships of ''Alopochen'' to ''Tadorna'' need further investigation. Species * Egyptian goose (''Alopochen aegyptiaca'') The extinct species of the genus are: * †Malagasy shelduck or Madagascar shelduck (''Alopochen sirabensis'') (Andrews 1897) (may be a subspecies of ''A. mauritiana'') – Madagascar, Late Pleistocene: see Late Quaternary prehistoric birds * †Mauritius sheldgoose (''Alopochen mauritiana'') (Newton & Gadow 1893) – Mauritius, late 1690s * †Réunion sheldgoose or Kervazo's Eg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mauritius Sheldgoose
The Mauritius sheldgoose (''Alopochen mauritiana''), also known as the Mauritius shelduck, is an extinct species of sheldgoose that was endemic to the island of Mauritius. While geese were mentioned by visitors to Mauritius in the 17th century, few details were provided by these accounts. In 1893, a carpometacarpus wing-bone and a pelvis from the Mare aux Songes swamp were used to name a new species of comb duck, ''Sarcidiornis mauritianus''. These bones were connected to the contemporary accounts of geese and later determined to belong to a species related to the Egyptian goose and placed in the sheldgoose genus ''Alopochen''. The Mauritius and Réunion sheldgoose may have descended from Egyptian geese that colonised the Mascarene Islands. One contemporary account states that the Mauritius sheldgoose had wings that were half black and half white, and that the bird was not very large. The species may also be depicted in one illustration. Fossil elements show that it was smaller ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Réunion Sheldgoose
The Réunion sheldgoose or Kervazo's Egyptian goose (''Alopochen kervazoi'') is an extinct species of sheldgoose from Réunion. It was a close relative of the Egyptian goose and was about the same size. There is only one description remaining, that of Dubois made in 1674. Apart from that, the species is only known from brief reports and subfossil bones, collected by British ornithologist Graham S. Cowles. Dubois' full account reads as follows: Extinction Waterfowl on Réunion were overhunted. As early as 1667, François Martin complained of unsustainable hunting. The last record of the species is a 1709 listing of de la Merveille who stated that ducks and geese occurred "in quantity", but as Jean Feuilley had not listed waterfowl in his 1705 catalogue of Réunion's animals, de la Merveille's record is obviously based on obsolete hearsay information. Thus, the last record of the species appears to be the report of Père Bernardin in 1687. The species probably became extinct du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Malagasy Shelduck
The Malagasy shelduck (''Alopochen sirabensis''), also known as the Sirabe shelduck, is an extinct species of waterfowl in the shelduck subfamily, described from Late Pleistocene fossils found at Antsirabe in central Madagascar. It is related to the extant Egyptian goose, which is widespread in mainland Africa, and to the extinct Réunion and Mauritius shelducks from the Mascarene Islands. The reason for the extinction of the Malagasy shelduck is unknown. Further findings in the Pleistocene sites of Ampasambazimba and Ampoza, and also in the Holocene site of Beloha (where remains were carbon dated to only 1380 ± 90 years BP, 480-660 CE), show that the species was once widespread in Madagascar, inhabiting different biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...s, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Quaternary Prehistoric Birds
Late Quaternary prehistoric birds are Bird, avian taxa that became extinct during the Late Quaternary – the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene – and before recorded history, specifically before they could be studied alive by ornithological science. They had died out before the period of global scientific exploration that started in the late 15th century. In other words, this list deals with avian extinctions between Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 BC and AD 1500. For the purposes of this article, a "bird" is any member of the clade Neornithes, that is, any descendant of the most recent common ancestor of all currently living birds. The birds are known from their remains, which are subfossil; as the remains are not completely fossilized, they may yield organic material for molecular analyses to provide additional clues for resolving their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic affiliations. Some birds are also known from folk memory, as in the case of Haast's eagle in New Zeala ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tadorna
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 biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. Biology Shelducks are a group of large, often semi-terrestrial waterfowl, which can be seen as intermediate between geese (''Anserinae'') and ducks. They are mid-sized (some 50–60 cm) Old World waterfowl. The sexes are colored slightly differently in most species, and all have a characteristic upperwing coloration in flight: the tertiary remiges form a green speculum, the secondaries and primaries are black, and the coverts (forewing) are white. Their diet consists of small shore animals ( winkles, crabs etc.) as well as grasses and other plants. They were originally known as "sheldrakes", which remained the most common name until the lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anatidae
The Anatidae are the biological family (biology), family of water birds that includes ducks, goose, geese, and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on all the world's continents except Antarctica. These birds are adapted for aquatic locomotion, swimming, floating on the water surface, and, in some cases, diving in at least shallow water. The family contains around 174 species in 43 genus, genera (the magpie goose is no longer considered to be part of the Anatidae and is now placed in its own family, Anseranatidae). They are generally herbivorous and are monogamy in animals, monogamous breeders. A number of species undertake bird migration, annual migrations. A few species have been domesticated for agriculture, and many others are hunted for food and recreation. Five species have become extinct since 1600, and many more are threatened with extinction. Description and ecology The ducks, geese, and swans are small- to large-sized birds with a broad and elo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. Biology Shelducks are a group of large, often semi-terrestrial waterfowl, which can be seen as intermediate between geese (''Anserinae'') and ducks. They are mid-sized (some 50–60 cm) Old World waterfowl. The sexes are colored slightly differently in most species, and all have a characteristic upperwing coloration in flight: the tertiary remiges form a green speculum, the secondaries and primaries are black, and the coverts (forewing) are white. Their diet consists of small shore animals ( winkles, crabs etc.) as well as grasses and other plants. They were originally known as "sheldrakes", which remained the most common name until the lat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tadorninae
The Tadornini is a biological tribe that includes the shelducks and sheldgeese, which is placed in subfamily Anatinae of family Anatinae, which includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the geese and swans. It has been treated as subfamily in the past. This group is largely tropical or Southern Hemisphere in distribution, with only two species, the common shelduck and the ruddy shelduck breeding in northern temperate regions, though the crested shelduck (presumed extinct) was also a northern species. Most of these species have a distinctive plumage, but there is no pattern as to whether the sexes are alike, even within a single genus. Systematics Following the review of Livezey (1986), several species formerly classified as aberrant dabbling ducks or as "perching ducks" were placed in the Tadornini. mtDNA sequence analyses cast doubt on the allocation of several genera; many supposed dabbling ducks and one peculiar goose may more correctly belong here, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Family (biology)
Family (, : ) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between order and genus. A family may be divided into subfamilies, which are intermediate ranks between the ranks of family and genus. The official family names are Latin in origin; however, popular names are often used: for example, walnut trees and hickory trees belong to the family Juglandaceae, but that family is commonly referred to as the "walnut family". The delineation of what constitutes a family—or whether a described family should be acknowledged—is established and decided upon by active taxonomists. There are not strict regulations for outlining or acknowledging a family, yet in the realm of plants, these classifications often rely on both the vegetative and reproductive characteristics of plant species. Taxonomists frequently hold varying perspectives on these descriptions, leading to a lack of widespread consensus within the scientific community ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Genera
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight Bird skeleton, skeleton. Birds live worldwide and range in size from the bee hummingbird to the common ostrich. There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 Order (biology), orders. More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have Bird wing, wings whose development varies according to species; the only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds. Wings, which are modified forelimbs, gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the Flightless bird, loss of flight in some birds, including ratites, penguins, and diverse endemism, endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
