Mareca
Eurasian wigeon, Mareca penelope
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Tribe: Anatini
Genus: Mareca
Stephens, 1824
Type species
Anas penelope
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Anas

Mareca is a genus or subgenus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the wigeons.

The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was not monophyletic.[1] Based on the published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with five extant species moved into the resurrected genus Mareca.[2]

The genus Mareca was introduced by English naturalist James Francis Stephens in 1824. The type species is the Eurasian wigeon.[3][4] The name of the genus is from the Portuguese word Marreco for a small duck.[5]

Extant species

The genus Mareca contains these species:[2]

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Mareca strepera Gadwall Europe, Asia and central North America
Mareca falcata Falcated duck Eastern Asia
Mareca penelope Eurasian wigeon Europe and Asia
Mareca sibilatrix Chiloé wigeon Southern South America
Mareca americana American wigeon North of Canada and Alaska and also in the Interior West through Idaho, Colorado, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, as well as eastern Washington and Oregon

Fossils

Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
Mareca marecula† Amsterdam wigeon Extinct, formerly found on Île Amsterdam in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands

Phylogeny

Cladogram based on the analysis of Gonzalez and colleagues published in 2009.[1]

Mareca

American wigeon

Chiloé wigeon

Eurasian wigeon

Falcated teal

Gadwall

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mareca.
  1. ^ a b Gonzalez, J.; Düttmann, H.; Wink, M. (2009). "Phylogenetic relationships based on two mitochondrial genes and hybridization patterns in Anatidae". Journal of Zoology. 279 (3): 310–318. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00622.x.
  2. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2017). "Screamers, ducks, geese & swans". World Bird List Version 7.3. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 July 2017.
  3. ^ Stephens, James Francis (1824). General zoology, or Systematic natural history, by the late George Shaw. Vol. 12 Part 2. London: Printed for G. Kearsley. p. 130.
  4. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Cottrell, G. William, eds. (1979). Check-list of Birds of the World. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 460.
  5. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 241. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.


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