Spatula (bird)
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Spatula is a genus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the shovelers, garganey, and several species of teals.
Taxonomy
The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. Molecular phylogenetic studies comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 1999 and 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was not monophyletic. Based on this published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera, with ten species moved into the resurrected genus Spatula.
The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler. The name Spatula is the Latin word for "spoon", from which the English word "spatula" also originates.
Extant species
The genus contains ten species. The four larger species with large bills are known as shovelers, while the smaller species are mostly called teals.
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garganey Male Female | Spatula querquedula (Linnaeus, 1758) | Europe and Asia, also in Africa in winter | Size: 37–41 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Blue-billed teal | Spatula hottentota (Eyton, 1838) | eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan and Ethiopia west to Niger and Nigeria and south to South Africa and Namibia | Size: 30–36 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Puna teal | Spatula puna (Tschudi, 1844) | the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and extreme northwestern Argentina | Size: 48–51 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Silver teal | Spatula versicolor (Vieillot, 1816) Two subspecies S. v. versicolor (Vieillot, 1816)S. v. fretensis (King, 1831)) | southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the Falkland Islands | Size: 38–43 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Red shoveler Male Female | Spatula platalea (Vieillot, 1816) | Tierra del Fuego northwards to Chile and most parts of Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands and small isolated breeding populations in southern Peru | Size: 45–56 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Cinnamon teal Male Female | Spatula cyanoptera (Vieillot, 1816) Four subspecies Spatula cyanoptera septentrionalium (Oberholser, 1906)Spatula cyanoptera tropica (Snyder & Lumsden, 1951)Spatula cyanoptera borreroi (Snyder & Lumsden, 1951)Spatula cyanoptera orinoma (Snyder & Lumsden, 1951)Spatula cyanoptera cyanoptera (Vieillot, 1816) | South America, western United States and extreme southwestern Canada; a rare visitor to the East Coast of the United States | Size: 35–48 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Blue-winged teal Male Female | Spatula discors (Linnaeus, 1766) | North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to northern Texas, wintering south to northern South America | Size: 35–41 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Cape shoveler Male Female | Spatula smithii Hartert, 1891 | South Africa, uncommon further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia | Size: 51–53 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Australasian shoveler Male Female | Spatula rhynchotis (Latham, 1801) Two subspecies S. r. rhynchotis(Latham, 1801)S. r. variegata(Gould, 1856) | Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand | Size: 46–56 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
| Northern shoveler Male Female | Spatula clypeata (Linnaeus, 1758) | Northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America, wintering south to northern Africa, southern Asia and northernmost South America | Size: 43–56 cm Habitat: Diet: | LC |
Phylogeny
Cladogram based on the analysis of Johnson & Sorenson in 1999, and Gonzalez and colleagues in 2009; both studies reached the same conclusions: