Pygmy goose

{{short description|Genus of birds}}

{{automatic taxobox

| name = Pygmy geese

| image = GreenPigmyGoose.PNG

| image_caption = Green pygmy goose

| taxon = Nettapus

| authority = Brandt, 1836

| type_species = Anas madagascariensis{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=14 |title= Anatidae |author= |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-08-05}} = Anas aurita

| type_species_authority = Gmelin, 1789

| display_parents = 3

| subdivision_ranks = Species

| subdivision = *Nettapus pulchellus

• Nettapus coromandelianus
• Nettapus auritus

| range_map = Nettapus map.svg

| range_map_caption = Distribution

{{leftlegend|000080|N. auritus}}

{{leftlegend|008000|N. c. coromandelianus}}

{{leftlegend|008080|N. c. albipennis}}

{{leftlegend|ffff80|N. pulchellus}}

}}

Pygmy geese are a group of very small "perching ducks" in the genus Nettapus which breed in the Old World tropics. They are the smallest of all wildfowl. As the "perching ducks" are a paraphyletic group,{{cite journal |last=Livezey |first=Bradley C. |year=1986 |title=A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters |journal=Auk |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=737–754 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v103n04/p0737-p0754.pdf |format=Full text}}

they need to be placed elsewhere. The initially assumed relationship with the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} has been questioned, and it appears they form a lineage in an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl, within which they are of unclear affinities.{{cite journal |last=Sraml |first=M. |last2=Christidis |first2 = L. |last3 = Easteal | first3 = S. | last4 = Horn | first4 = P. |last5 = Collet |first5 = C. |year=1996 |title=Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes) |journal=Australian Journal of Zoology |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1071/ZO9960047}} An undescribed fossil species from the late Hemphillian (5.0–4.1 mya) of Jalisco, central Mexico, has also been identified from the distal end of a tarsometatarsus. It is only record of the genus in the New World.{{cite journal |last=Steadman |first=D. |author2=Carranza-Castaneda, O. |year=2006 |title=Early Pliocene to early Pleistocene birds from central Mexico |journal=Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geología and Centro de Geociencias, Publicacion Especial |volume=4 |pages=61–71 | isbn = 970-32-3895-5}}

The genus Nettapus was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1836.{{ cite book | last=Brandt | first=Johann Friedrich von | author-link=Johann Friedrich von Brandt | year=1836 | title=Descriptiones et icones animalium rossicorum novorum vel minus rite cognitorum | volume=Fasciculus 1: Aves | language=la | publisher=Jussu et sumptibus Academiae Scientiarum | page=5 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53584280 }} The name is from Ancient Greek nētta meaning "duck" and pous meaning "foot". It was thought that the type species, the African pygmy goose (Nettapus auritus), possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose.{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n269 269] }}

There are three extant species in the genus:{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=World Bird List Version 7.3 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=7 November 2017 }}

class="wikitable"
Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Distribution
120px	Nettapus auritus	African pygmy goose	Sub-Saharan Africa
120px	Nettapus coromandelianus	Cotton pygmy goose	northern Australasia and Southeast Asia
120px	Nettapus pulchellus	Green pygmy goose	northern Australia and southern New Guinea

Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes.