Goldeneye (duck)

Goldeneye
Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order:Anseriformes
Family:Anatidae
Subfamily:Merginae
Genus:Bucephala
S.F. Baird, 1858
Species

Bucephala albeola
Bucephala clangula
Bucephala islandica

Synonyms

Charitonetta
and see text

Bucephala is a genus of ducks found in the Northern Hemisphere. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek boukephalos, "bullheaded", from bous "bull", and kephale, "head", a reference to the crest of the bufflehead making its head look large.[1]

The bufflehead was formerly separated in its own genus Charitonetta, while the goldeneyes proper were mistakenly placed in Clangula (as Clangula americana), the genus of the long-tailed duck, which at that time was placed in Harelda.[2]

The three living species are:

ImageScientific nameCommon NameDistribution
Bucephala clangulaCommon goldeneyeCanada and the northern United States, Scandinavia, the Baltic States, and northern Russia
Bucephala islandicaBarrow's goldeneyenorthwestern North America
Bucephala albeolaBuffleheadNorth America and the southern United States.

Known fossil taxa are:

  • Bucephala cereti (Sajóvölgyi Middle Miocene of Mátraszõlõs, Hungary - Late Pliocene of Chilhac, France)
  • Bucephala ossivalis (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Bone Valley, United States), which was very similar to the common goldeneye and may even have been a paleosubspecies or direct ancestor
  • Bucephala fossilis (Late Pliocene of California, United States)
  • Bucephala angustipes (Early Pleistocene of central Europe)
  • Bucephala sp. (Early Pleistocene of Dursunlu, Turkey: Louchart et al. 1998)

References

  • Louchart, Antoine; Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile; Guleç, Erksin; Howell, Francis Clark & White, Tim D. (1998). L'avifaune de Dursunlu, Turquie, Pléistocène inférieur: climat, environnement et biogéographie. C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris IIA 327(5):341-346. [French with English abridged version] doi:10.1016/S1251-8050(98)80053-0 (HTML abstract)

Media related to Bucephala at Wikimedia Commons

  1. ↑ Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  2. ↑ Report of the National conference on utilization of forest products. New national museum, Washington, DC, November 19 and 20, 1924. Issue 13. US Govt. print. off. 1925.
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