Steamer duck

The genus Tachyeres was introduced in 1875 by the English zoologist Richard Owen to accommodate the Falkland steamer duck.{{ cite journal | last=Owen | first=Richard | author-link=Richard Owen | date=1875 | title=On Dinornis (Part XX.) : containing a restoration of the skeleton of Cnemiornis calcitrans, Ow., with remarks on its affinities in the Lamellirostral group | journal=Transactions of the Zoological Society of London | volume=9 | pages=253-272 [254 Note 2] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/30865064 }} The genus name Tachyeres, "having fast oars" or "fast rower", comes from Ancient Greek ταχυ- "fast" + ἐρέσσω "I row (as with oars)".{{cite book|editor-last=Kear|editor-first=J.|page=378|volume=I|title= Ducks, Geese and Swans|isbn= 0198610084|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2005}} The common name "steamer ducks" arose because, when swimming fast, they flap their wings into the water as well as using their feet, creating an effect like a paddle steamer.{{cite journal|author=Moynihan, M.|title=Notes on the Behavior of the Flying Steamer Duck|journal=The Auk|date=April 1958|volume=75|issue=2|pages=183–202|jstor=4081889|url=https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v075n02/p0183-p0202.pdf|doi=10.2307/4081889}}

They are usually placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. However, mtDNA sequence analyses of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes indicate that Tachyeres rather belongs in a distinct clade of aberrant South American dabbling ducks, which also includes the Brazilian, the crested, and the bronze-winged ducks.{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Kevin P. |last2=Sorenson|first2= Michael D. |year=1999|title= Phylogeny and biogeography of dabbling ducks (genus Anas): a comparison of molecular and morphological evidence|journal=Auk|volume=116|issue=3|pages=792–805|url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v116n03/p0792-p0805.pdf |doi=10.2307/4089339|jstor=4089339 }}

There are four species:

{{Species table |genus= Tachyeres |authority-name=Owen |authority-year= 1875|species-count=four|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Flying steamer duck |binomial=Tachyeres patachonicus

|image=File:Flying Steamer Duck (Tachyeres patachonicus) (1).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=King|authority-year= 1831 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= southern Chile and Argentina, Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands.

|range-image=File:T. patachonicus distribution map.jpg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name= Fuegian steamer duck|binomial=Tachyeres pteneres

|image=File:Tachyeres pteneres (Fuegian Steamer Duck - Magellan-Dampfschiffente) - Weltvogelpark Walsrode 2012-06.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Forster |authority-year=1844 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= southern Chile and Chiloé to Tierra del Fuego

|range-image=File:Tachyeres pteneres map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Chubut steamer duck |binomial=Tachyeres leucocephalus

|image=File:Tachyeres leucocephalus 27199396.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Humphrey & Thompson|authority-year= 1981 |authority-not-original=

|range= Argentina

|range-image=File:Tachyeres leucocephalus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status=VU

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/row

|name=Falkland steamer duck |binomial=Tachyeres brachypterus

|image=File:Falklands Steamer duck (51051125303) (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=

|authority-name=Latham |authority-year=1790 |authority-not-original=yes

|range= the Falkland Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean.

|range-image=File:Tachyeres brachypterus map.svg

|range-image-size=180px

|size=

|habitat=

|hunting=

|iucn-status= LC

|population=

|direction=

|subspecies=

}}

{{Species table/end}}

The Chubut steamer duck was only described in 1981.

Based on the Taxonomy in Flux from John Boyd's website.{{cite web|last=Boyd|first=John|year=2007|title=Anatini |url=http://jboyd.net/Taxo/Anatini.pdf |access-date= 30 August 2016|work=Taxonomy in Flux}}

{{clade|style=font-size:100%;line-height:80%

|label1=Tachyeres

|1={{clade

|1=T. brachypterus (Latham 1790) (Falkland steamer duck)

|2={{clade

|1=T. pteneres (Forster 1844) (Fuegian steamer duck)

|2={{clade

|1=T. patachonicus (King 1831) (Flying steamer duck)

|2=T. leucocephalus Humphrey & Thompson 1981 (Chubut steamer duck)

}}

}}

}}

}}

Flightless Tachyeres have a paraphyletic organization, as shown above. There are multiple possible explanations of these organizations. It is unlikely that flightlessness evolved once in all Tachyeres and then disappeared in T. patachonicus, because there is no evidence for a reversal of evolution, and these reversals are extremely rare. It is more likely that flightlessness evolved independently in each steamer duck species. The DYRK1A enzyme has been identified as a candidate gene for flightlessness in steamer ducks. This finding, combined with the range of flight capability, means the evolutionary history of the group may not be so clear cut.

There is genomic evidence of recent speciation into four Tachyeres species. Flightless Tachyeres are thought to be undergoing a modern evolutionary transition to flightlessness, which explains the range of flight capability observed across the genus. The largest males of the most volant species, the flying steamer duck, are completely incapable of flight, while other individuals rarely fly. The flying steamer duck is the only species to reside in landlocked bodies of water.{{Cite web|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_steamer_duck|title=Flying steamer duck|website=Wikipedia}}{{Circular reference|date=November 2019}} Generally, island bound/isolated avian populations are more likely to experience evolution towards flightlessness, which may be the case for several Tachyeres populations in the coastal South American regions.{{Cite journal|last=Wright|first=Natalie|date=2016|title=Predictable evolution toward flightlessness in volant island birds|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54f0d711e4b04ba259366b30/t/570cc14860b5e943c01d1d5a/1460453724085/Wright-etal-2016-PNAS-Evolution-toward-flightlessness-with-supplement.pdf|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}}

{{Reflist}}

{{NIE Poster|Steamer Duck}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Tachyeres|Tachyeres}}
• {{cite journal|author=Cunningham, Robert O.|title=On some Points in the Anatomy of the Steamer Duck (Micropterus cinereus)|journal=Transactions of the Zoological Society of London|date=November 1871|volume=7|issue=7|pages=493–501|url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.19050934;view=1up;seq=631|postscript=; plates lviii–lxii|doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1871.tb00278.x|hdl=2027/hvd.32044107224503|hdl-access=free}}

{{Odontoanserae|B.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q933654}}

Category:Ducks

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