Hartlaub's Ducks
Duck Information ... Duck Species ... Photo Gallery
Wild Bird Feeders ... Wild Bird Food / Seed ... Binoculars ... Humming Bird Feeders / Feed ... Bird Houses / Bird Nests ... Woodworking Instructions to Build Bird Houses ... Recommended Books
Hartlaub's Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii) is a dark rich chestnut duck of African forests. Formerly included in the paraphyletic "perching duck" assemblage, it was moved to the dabbling ducks later. However, it is fairly distinct from the usual dabbling ducks, being placed in the monotypic genus Pteronetta to reflect this.
Analysis of mtDNA sequences of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes (Johnson & Sorenson, 1999) suggests that it belongs into a very distinct clade - possibly a subfamily of their own - together with the Blue-winged Goose, another African species of waterfowl with uncertain affinities. Remarkably, the upper wing plumage pattern - perhaps the one reliable morphological marker for relationships in the ducks and their close relatives - is not only nearly alike in both species, but unique among all living waterfowl (Madge & Burn, 1987).
Hartlaub's Duck is resident in equatorial West and Central Africa, from Guinea and Sierra Leone east through Nigeria to Sudan, and south to Gabon, Congo and Zaire.
This bird is named after the German naturalist Gustav Hartlaub.
Copyright: Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia.org
If you would like to add to or correct any of the above information, or would like to share with web visitors your own experiences, please e-mail the webmaster.
Photo contributions are welcome!
