Anseranatidae
| Magpie-geese Temporal range:Eocene-recent,possibleLate Cretaceousrecord
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|---|---|
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| Modernmagpie goose,Anseranas semipalmata | |
Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Anseriformes |
| Superfamily: | Anseranatoidea Sclater,1880 |
| Family: | Anseranatidae Sclater,1880 |
| Type species | |
| Anseranas semipalmata Latham,1798
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| Genera | |
Anseranatidae,the magpie-geese, is a biological family ofwaterbirds.The only living species, themagpie goose,is a resident breeder in northern Australia and in southernNew Guinea.
Systematics and evolution
[edit]This family is placed in theorderAnseriformes,having the characteristic bill structure, but is considered to be distinct from the other families in thistaxon.The related and extant families,Anhimidae(screamers) andAnatidae(ducks,geeseandswans), contain all the other taxa.[1]
A cladistic study of the morphology of waterfowl found that the magpie goose was an early and distinctive offshoot, diverging after screamers and before all other ducks, geese and swans.[2]
This family is quite old, aliving fossil,having apparently diverged before theCretaceous–Paleogene extinction event– the relativeVegavis iaailived some 68–67million years ago.Thefossilrecord is limited, nonetheless. The enigmatic genusAnatalavis(HornerstownLate CretaceousorEarly Paleoceneof New Jersey, USA –London ClayEarly EoceneofWalton-on-the-Naze,England) is sometimes considered to be the earliest known anseranatid. AnotherPaleogenebird genus sometimes considered an anseranatid isAnserpica,from theLate OligoceneofBilly-Créchy(France).[3]The earliest known member of the group in Australia isEoanseranas handae.It is represented by fossils found in the lateOligoceneCarl Creek LimestoneofQueensland.Additional fossils from North America and Europe suggest that the family was spread across the globe during the latePaleogeneperiod.[4]
References
[edit]
- ^Myers, P.; Espinosa, R.; Parr, C.S.; Jones, T.; Hammond, G.S. & Dewey, T.A. (2008):Animal Diversity Web–Family Anseranatidae.
- ^Livezey, Bradley C. (1986)."A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters"(Full text).Auk.103(4): 737–754.
- ^Hugueney, Marguerite; Berthet, Didier; Bodergat, Anne-Marie; Escuillié, François; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Wattinne, Aurélia (2003). "La limite Oligocène-Miocène en Limagne: changements fauniques chez les mammifères, oiseaux et ostracodes des différents niveaux de Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)" [The Oligocene-Miocene boundary in Limagne: faunal changes in the mammals, birds and ostracods from the different levels of Billy-Créchy (Allier, France)].Geobios.36(6): 719–731.doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.01.002.
- ^Worthy, T.H.; Scanlon, J.D. (2009). "An Oligo-Miocene Magpie Goose (Aves: Anseranatidae) from Riversleigh, Northwestern Queensland, Australia".Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.29:205.doi:10.1671/039.029.0103.
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