Anseriformes is an order of birds also known as waterfowl that comprises about 180 living species of birds in three families: Anhimidae, Anseranatidae, and Anatidae, the largest family, which includes over 170 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans. Most modern species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at the water surface. With the exception of screamers, males have penises, a trait that has been lost in the Neoaves. Due to their aquatic nature, most species are web-footed.
The tufted duck is a small diving duck with a population of close to one million birds, found in northern Eurasia. They are partially migratory. The scientific name is derived from Ancient Greek aithuia, an unidentified seabird mentioned by authors including Hesychius and Aristotle, and Latin fuligo 'soot' and gula 'throat'. It is a game bird.
The magpie goose is the sole living representative species of the family Anseranatidae. This common waterbird is found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. As the species is prone to wandering, especially when not breeding, it is sometimes recorded outside its core range. The species was once also widespread in southern Australia but disappeared from there largely due to the drainage of the wetlands where the birds once bred. Due to their importance to Aboriginal people as a seasonal food source, as subjects of recreational hunting, and as a tourist attraction, their expansive and stable presence in northern Australia has been "ensured [by] protective management".
Aix is a bird genus that contains two species of ducks: the wood duck, and the mandarin duck. Aix is an Ancient Greek word used by Aristotle to refer to an unknown diving bird.
The horned screamer is a species of bird that belongs to a relatively small family, the Anhimidae, which occurs in wetlands of tropical South America. There are three screamer species, the other two being the southern screamer and the northern screamer in the genus Chauna. They are related to the ducks, geese and swans, which are in the family Anatidae, but have bills looking more like those of game birds.
The whistling ducks or tree ducks are a subfamily, Dendrocygninae, of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomic schemes, they are considered a separate family, Dendrocygnidae. Some taxonomists list only one genus, Dendrocygna, which contains eight living species, and one undescribed extinct species from Aitutaki of the Cook Islands, but other taxonomists also list the white-backed duck under the subfamily.
The pink-eared duck is a species of duck found in Australia.
The southern screamer is a species of bird in family Anhimidae of the waterfowl order Anseriformes. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
The northern screamer is a Near Threatened species of bird in family Anhimidae of the waterfowl order Anseriformes. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela.
Hartlaub's duck is a dark chestnut-coloured duck of African forests. Formerly included in the paraphyletic "perching duck" assemblage, it was later moved to the dabbling duck assemblage. However, it is fairly distinct from the "typical" dabbling ducks, and is placed in the monotypic genus Pteronetta to reflect this.
The Surinam horned frog, also known as Amazonian horned frog, is a bulky frog measuring up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) found in the northern part of South America. It has an exceptionally wide mouth, and has horn-like projections above its eyes. Females lay up to 1,000 eggs at a time, and wrap them around aquatic plants. The frog eats other frogs, fish, lizards, and mice. Tadpoles of the Surinam horned frog attack each other soon after being hatched. This species was once considered the same species as Ceratophrys ornata. This dispute was later settled because the Surinam Horned frog inhabits a different habitat than its smaller cousin and does not interbreed with it in the wild. This species has been known to prey upon the other species of horned frog, especially the northern race of Ceratophrys ornata.
Presbyornis is an extinct genus of presbyornithid bird from North America during the Paleogene period, between the Late Paleocene and Early Eocene.
Presbyornithidae is an extinct group of birds found in North America, South America, East Asia, Australia and possibly North Africa. They had evolved by the Maastrichtian age of the Late Cretaceous and became extinct during the Aquitanian age of the Early Miocene. The family contains the oldest known neognath, Teviornis from the Nemegt Formation of Mongolia.
This article is a list of biological species, subspecies, and evolutionary significant units that are known to have become extinct during the Holocene, the current geologic epoch, ordered by their known or approximate date of disappearance from oldest to most recent.
The horned coot is a species of bird found in the Andes of South America. It was described by Bonaparte in 1853 based on a specimen collected in Bolivia. For a long time it was known only from the type specimen.
The scarlet-horned manakin is a species of bird in the family Pipridae.
A spur is an outgrowth of bone covered in a sheath of horn found in various anatomical locations in some animals. Unlike claws or nails, which grow from the tip of the toes, spurs form from other parts of the foot, usually in connection with joints where the toes meet the foot or the foot meets the long bones. Spurs are most commonly found on the hindfeet, though some birds possess spurs at the leading edge of the wings.
Wilaru is an extinct genus of bird, possibly a presbyornithid, from Australia during the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene, around 26-22 million years ago. The type species is Wilaru tedfordi, and the second species is Wilaru prideauxi.
The Odontoanserae is a proposed clade that includes the family Pelagornithidae and the clade Anserimorphae. The placement of the pseudo-toothed birds in the evolutionary tree of birds has been problematic, with some supporting the placement of them near the orders Procellariformes and Pelecaniformes based on features in the sternum.
