- Source: Pygmy goose
Pygmy geese are a group of very small "perching ducks" in the genus Nettapus which breed in the Old World tropics. They are the smallest of all wildfowl. As the "perching ducks" are a paraphyletic group, they need to be placed elsewhere. The initially assumed relationship with the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae has been questioned, and it appears they form a lineage in an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl, within which they are of unclear affinities. 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.
The genus Nettapus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1836. 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.
There are three extant species in the genus:
Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes.
See also
Smallest organisms
References
Further reading
Madge, Steve; Burn, Hilary (1987). Wildfowl : an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 190–193. ISBN 0-7470-2201-1.
External links
Media related to Nettapus at Wikimedia Commons
Data related to Nettapus at Wikispecies
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds.
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Trutu afrika
- Trutu coklat
- Pygmy goose
- Cotton pygmy goose
- African pygmy goose
- Green pygmy goose
- Perching duck
- Goose (disambiguation)
- List of birds by common name
- Nagi Bird Sanctuary
- Game (hunting)
- Goose
No More Posts Available.
No more pages to load.
