Saturday, June 2, 2012

>>Genus Pteronetta (Hartlaub's Duck)

Hartlaub's Duck


Hartlaub's Duck
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Genus:Pteronetta
Salvadori, 1895
Species:P. hartlaubii
Binomial name
Pteronetta hartlaubii
(Cassin, 1859)

Hartlaub's Duck swimming
The Hartlaub's Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii) is a dark chestnut-coloured duck of African forests. Formerly included in the paraphyletic "perching duck" assemblage, it was later moved to the dabbling duckassemblage.However, it is fairly distinct from the "typical" dabbling ducks, and is placed in the monotypic genus Pteronetta to reflect this.
Analysis of mtDNA sequences of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes suggests that it belongs into a very distinct clade—possibly a subfamily of its own—together with the Blue-winged Goose, another African species of waterfowl with uncertain affinities.
Hartlaub's Duck is resident in equatorial West and Central Africa, from Guinea and Sierra Leone east through Nigeria to Sudan, and south to Gabon, Congo and Zaire.
This bird is named after the German naturalist Gustav Hartlaub.

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