Mareca
Genus of birds
Mareca is a genus or subgenus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the wigeons.
The genus Mareca was introduced by English naturalist James Francis Stephens in 1824. The type species is the Eurasian wigeon. The name of the genus is from the Portuguese word Marreco for a small duck. 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. Based on the published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with five extant species moved into the resurrected genus Mareca.
01Species
The genus Mareca contains five extant species and one extinct species:
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gadwall Male
|
Mareca strepera (Linnaeus, 1758) two subspecies |
Europe, Asia and central North America |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC |
| Falcated duck Male
|
Mareca falcata (Georgi, 1775) |
Eastern Asia | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC |
| Eurasian wigeon Male
|
Mareca penelope (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Europe and Asia |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC |
| Chiloé wigeon Male
|
Mareca sibilatrix (Poeppig, 1829) |
Southern South America |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC |
| American wigeon Male
|
Mareca americana (Gmelin, JF, 1789) |
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 |
Size: Habitat: Diet: |
LC |
| † Amsterdam wigeon | Mareca marecula (Olson & Jouventin, 1996) |
Île Amsterdam in the French Southern and Antarctic Lands | Size: Habitat: Diet: |
EX |
02Phylogeny
Cladogram based on the analysis of Gonzalez and colleagues published in 2009.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mareca”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Mareca penelope male.jpg by Alpsdake, CC BY-SA 3.0
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