Mergus

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Mergus is the genus containing the typical mergansers (/mɜːrˈɡænsərz/ Script error: No such module "Respell".),[1] fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae.

The common merganser or goosander (Mergus merganser) and red-breasted merganser (M. serrator) have broad ranges in the northern hemisphere. The Brazilian merganser (M. octosetaceus) is a South American duck, and one of the six most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild. The scaly-sided merganser or "Chinese merganser" (M. squamatus) is also an endangered species; it lives in temperate eastern Asia, breeding in the northeast and wintering further south.

The hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus, formerly known as Mergus cucullatus) is not currently included in this genus but is closely related, and may be embedded within it.[2] The other "aberrant" merganser, the smew (Mergellus albellus), previously thought to be closer to goldeneyes (Bucephala) due to the occurrence of natural hybrids,[3] is now known to be basal to all the other mergansers from genetic analysis.[2]

Although they are seaducks, most of the mergansers prefer riverine habitats, with only the red-breasted merganser being common at sea. These large fish-eating ducks typically have black-and-white or brown, and with bottle-green heads in the male plumage, while the females are largely grey or brownish and with brown heads; both sexes have somewhat shaggy crests. All have serrated edges to their long and thin bills that help them grip their prey. Along with the smew and hooded merganser, they are therefore often known as "sawbills". The goldeneyes, on the other hand, feed mainly on mollusks, and therefore have a more typical duck-bill.[4]

Mergus ducks are also classified as "diving ducks" because they submerge completely in looking for food. In other traits, however, the genera Mergus, Lophodytes, Mergellus, and Bucephala are very similar; uniquely among all Anseriformes, they do not have notches at the hind margin of their sternum, but holes surrounded by bone.[5]

Taxonomy

The genus Mergus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[6] The genus name is the Latin word for an unidentified waterbird mentioned by Pliny the Elder and other authors; some sources have identified the original mergus as referring to either a cormorant or Scopoli's shearwater.[7][8][9][10] The type species was designated as Mergus serrator Linnaeus, 1758 (the red-breasted merganser) by Thomas Campbell Eyton in 1838.[11][12][13]

Etymology

The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified diving waterbird.[14][15]

The English name merganser, first used in Mediaeval Latin by Conrad Gesner in 1555, and as an English loan word in 1752, means "diving goose", from merg (as in "submerge"), + Anser.[16] The name goosander is older in English usage, first attested in 1622 with the spelling "gossander" and 1674 with its current spelling; it is of unknown etymology but possibly from a Scandinavian origin as "gossand", where goss is unknown, and -and is a duck.[16]

Recent species

The genus contains four living species and two recently extinct species.[3][17][18][19]

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Image Scientific name Common name Distribution
†Mergus australis Auckland Island merganser Auckland Islands, New Zealand (extinct c. 1902). The species identity of merganser bones from mainland New Zealand (North, South, and Stewart Islands) is unresolved.[20]
†Mergus milleneri Chatham Island merganser Chatham Island, New Zealand. Extinct sometime after human settlement of the Chatham Islands,[19] which began c. 1500.[21]

Fossil species

Some fossil members of this genus have been described:

The Early Oligocene booby "Sula" ronzoni was at first mistakenly believed to be a typical merganser.[24] A Late Serravallian (13–12 million years ago) fossil sometimes attributed to Mergus, found in the Sajóvölgyi Formation of Mátraszőlős, Hungary, probably belongs to Mergellus.[25] The affiliations of "Anas" albae from the Messinian (c. 7–5 million years ago) of Hungary are undetermined; it was initially believed to be a typical merganser too.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."merganser". The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
  2. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Janet C. Buckner; Ryan Ellingson; David A. Gold; Terry L. Jones; David K. Jacobs (2018). "Mitogenomics supports an unexpected taxonomic relationship for the extinct diving duck Chendytes lawi and definitively places the extinct Labrador Duck". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 122: 102–109. Bibcode:2018MolPE.122..102B. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.12.008. PMID 29247849.
  3. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Madge, Steve; Burn, Hilary (1988). Wildfowl: an identification guide to the ducks, geese and swans of the world. London: Christopher Helm. pp. 112–115, 274–281. ISBN 0-7136-3647-5.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Common Goldeneye". Seattle Audubon Society. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Livezey, Bradley C. (1986). "A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters" (PDF). Auk. 103 (4): 737–754. doi:10.1093/auk/103.4.737.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 129.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Arnott, W. G. (1964). "Notes on Gavia and Mergvs in Latin Authors [Notes on Gavia and Mergus in Latin Authors]". The Classical Quarterly. 14 (2): 249–262. doi:10.1017/S0009838800023806. ISSN 0009-8388. JSTOR 637729. S2CID 170648873.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.White, Heather (2011). "Language and style in Ovid". Veleia (in español) (28). doi:10.1387/veleia.6309 (inactive 12 July 2025). hdl:10810/37209. ISSN 2444-3565.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of July 2025 (link)
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ornithological Approaches to Greek Mythology: The Case of the Shearwater" (PDF). CAMWS.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Eyton, Thomas Campbell (1838). A Monograph on the Anatidae, or Duck Tribe. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman. p. 76.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.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. 496.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Dickinson, E.C.; Remsen, J.V. Jr., eds. (2013). The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Vol. 1: Non-passerines (4th ed.). Eastbourne, UK: Aves Press. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-9568611-0-8.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  15. ^ Etymology: Latin mergus, a catch-all term for sea-going birds: Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Arnott, W.G. (1964). "Notes on Gavia and Mergvs in Latin Authors". Classical Quarterly. New Series. 14 (2): 249–262. doi:10.1017/S0009838800023806. JSTOR 637729. S2CID 170648873.
  16. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lockwood, William Burley (1984). The Oxford Book of British Bird Names. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 70–71, 126. ISBN 0-19-214155-4.
  17. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Screamers, ducks, geese & swans". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  18. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Auckland Island merganser | Miuweka | New Zealand Birds Online". www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  19. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Chatham Island merganser | New Zealand Birds Online". nzbirdsonline.org.nz. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  20. ^ Miskelly, Colin & Forsdick, Natalie & Gill, Brian & Palma, Ricardo & Rawlence, Nicolas & Tennyson, Alan. (2022). CHECKLIST OF THE BIRDS OF NEW ZEALAND. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361824003_CHECKLIST_OF_THE_BIRDS_OF_NEW_ZEALAND
  21. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Moriori | people | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-05-30.
  22. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Alvarez, R.; Olson, S.L. (1978). "A New Merganser From The Miocene Of Virginia (Aves: Anatidae". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 91: 522–532.
  23. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002a). "Early Pleistocene birds of Stránská skála, Czech Republic: 2. Absolon's cave" (PDF). Sylvia. 38: 19–28. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-04-11. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  24. ^ Mlíkovský (2002b): p. 264
  25. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Gál, Erika; Hír, János; Kessler, Eugén & Kókay, József (1998–99). "Középsõ-miocén õsmaradványok, a Mátraszõlõs, Rákóczi-kápolna alatti útbevágásból. I. A Mátraszõlõs 1. lelõhely [Middle Miocene fossils from the sections at the Rákóczi chapel at Mátraszőlős. Locality Mátraszõlõs I.]" (PDF). Folia Historico Naturalia Musei Matraensis (in Hungarian and English). 23: 33–78. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2007-02-06.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  26. ^ Mlíkovský (2002b): p. 124

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Further reading

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