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Perching duck
File:Woodduck95.jpg
Pair of Wood Ducks (Aix sponsa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Anatinae
Tribe: Cairinini
Species
  • Aix galericulata
  • Aix sponsa
  • Cairina moschata

The perching ducks ("Cairininae" or "Cairinini") were previously treated as a small group of ducks in the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae, grouped together on the basis of their readiness to perch high in trees. It has been subsequently shown that the grouping is paraphyletic and their apparent similarity results from convergent evolution, with the different members more closely related to various other ducks than to each other (Livezey 1986).

The species previously included, and their current subfamilial allocation, are:

Plectropterinae

Tadorninae

Anatinae

  • Brazilian Teal Amazonetta brasiliensis

In addition, several species cannot with certainty be allocated to a subfamily, though they do not form a distinct clade. Rather, their characters are too ambiguous to allow unequivocal placement based on the available data (Livezey 1986, Sraml et al. 1996, Johnson & Sorenson 1999):

References[]

  • Johnson, Kevin P. & Sorenson, Michael D. (1999): Phylogeny and biogeography of dabbling ducks (genus Anas): a comparison of molecular and morphological evidence. Auk 116(3): 792–805. PDF fulltext
  • Livezey, Bradley C. (1986): A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters. Auk 103(4): 737-754. PDF fulltext
  • Sraml, M.; Christidis, L.; Easteal, S.; Horn, P. & Collet, C. (1996): Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes). Australian Journal of Zoology 44(1): 47-58. doi:10.1071/ZO9960047 (HTML abstract)
Hemipus picatus This article is part of Project Bird Taxonomy, a All Birds project that aims to write comprehensive articles on every order, family and other taxonomic rank related to birds.
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