The Brazilian teal or Brazilian duck (''Amazonetta brasiliensis'') is the only extant species of

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Amazonetta''. It is widely distributed in eastern South America.

Taxonomy

The Brazilian teal was

formally described A species description is a formal scientific description of a newly encountered species, typically articulated through a scientific publication. Its purpose is to provide a clear description of a new species of organism and explain how it differ ...

in 1789 by the German naturalist

Johann Friedrich Gmelin Johann Friedrich Gmelin (8 August 1748 – 1 November 1804) was a German natural history, naturalist, chemist, botanist, entomologist, herpetologist, and malacologist. Education Johann Friedrich Gmelin was born as the eldest son of Philipp F ...

in his revised and expanded edition of

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

's ''

Systema Naturae ' (originally in Latin written ' with the Orthographic ligature, ligature æ) is one of the major works of the Sweden, Swedish botanist, zoologist and physician Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and introduced the Linnaean taxonomy. Although the syste ...

''. He placed it with all the other ducks, swans and geese in the

Anas ''Anas'' is a genus of dabbling ducks. It includes the pintails, most teals, and the mallard and its close relatives. It formerly included additional species but following the publication of a molecular phylogenetic study in 2009 the genus was s ...

'' and coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, altho ...

''Anas brasiliensis''. Gmelin based his description on the ''Mareca alia species'' (the second Mareca) that was described in 1648 by the German naturalist

Georg Marcgrave Georg Marcgrave (originally , also spelled ''"Marcgraf" "Markgraf"'') (1610 – 1644) was a German naturalist and astronomer, whose posthumously published ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae'' was a major contribution to early modern science. Life B ...

in his ''Historia Naturalis Brasiliae''. The Brazilian teal is now the only livng species placed in the genus ''Amazonetta'' that was introduced by the German zoologist

Hans von Boetticher Hans von Boetticher (30 August 1886 – 20 January 1958) was a German zoologist who worked on ornithology and entomology. Boetticher was employed at the natural history museum in Coburg, Germany, Coburg. Several of his works deal with the higher l ...

in 1929. It was formerly considered a ''

perching duck The term perching ducks is used colloquially to mean any species of ducks distinguished by their readiness to perch high in trees. Until the late 20th century, perching ducks meant ''Cairinini'', a tribe of ducks in the duck, goose and swan fam ...

'', but more recent analyses indicate that it belongs to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

of South American

dabbling duck The Anatinae are a subfamily of the family Anatidae (swans, geese and ducks). Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving. The other members of the Anatinae are the extinct moa-nalo, a y ...

s which also includes the

crested duck The crested duck or South American crested duck (''Lophonetta specularioides'') is a species of duck native to South America, belonging to the monotypic genus ''Lophonetta''. It is sometimes included in ''Anas'', but it belongs to a South Americ ...

, the

bronze-winged duck The bronze-winged duck (''Speculanas specularis'') also known as the spectacled duck, is a dabbling duck and the sole member of its genus ''Speculanas''. It is often placed in ''Anas'' with most other dabbling ducks, but its closest relative is e ...

, and possibly the

steamer duck The steamer ducks are a genus (''Tachyeres'') of ducks in the family Anatidae. All of the four species occur at the southern cone of South America in Chile and Argentina, and all except the flying steamer duck are flightless; even this one specie ...

s. Two

subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...

are recognised: * ''A. b. brasiliensis'' (Gmelin, 1789) – the

nominate race In biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. ...

, found in Brazil, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, central Venezuela, eastern Colombia, and northeastern Peru * ''A. b. ipecutiri'' (

Vieillot Louis Pierre Vieillot (10 May 1748, Yvetot – 24 August 1830, Sotteville-lès-Rouen) was a French ornithologist. Vieillot is the author of the first scientific descriptions and Linnaean names of a number of birds, including species he collecte ...

, 1816) – found in Brazil, northern Argentina, eastern Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay The extinct species '' Amazonetta cubensis'' from the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

reveals that the genus formerly had a more widespead distribution.

Description

The

s are light brown in colour. Drakes distinguish themselves from females in having red

beak The beak, bill, or rostrum is an external anatomical structure found mostly in birds, but also in turtles, non-avian dinosaurs and a few mammals. A beak is used for pecking, grasping, and holding (in probing for food, eating, manipulating and ...

s and legs, and in having a distinctive pale grey area on the side of its head and neck. The colour of these limbs is much duller in females. File:Amazonetta brasiliensis-female.jpg, Female at Costanera Sur,

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

File:Amazonetta brasiliensis-male.jpg, Male at Costanera Sur,

Distribution and habitat

They can be found throughout eastern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, from central Brazil, to Uruguay, to northern and eastern Argentina, Paraguay, central Venezuela, northeastern Peru, Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana, eastern Bolivia, and eastern Colombia. Their preferred habitat is a body of

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

away from the coast with dense vegetation nearby.

Behaviour

Brazilian teal live in pairs or in small groups of up to twenty birds. Both parents look after their hatchlings. They eat seeds, fruits, roots and insect, while ducklings eat only

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

Status

They are plentiful and are listed as of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

External links

Short description and pictures
* {{Taxonbar, from=Q456423 Anatinae Ducks Birds of South America Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of Brazil Birds of Venezuela Birds of Argentina Birds of Uruguay Birds described in 1789 Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin