The perching ducks ("Cairininae" or "Cairinini") were previously treated as a small group of ducks in the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae, grouped together on the basis of their readiness to perch high in trees. It has been subsequently shown that the grouping is paraphyletic and their apparent similarity results from convergent evolution, with the different members more closely related to various other ducks than to each other (Livezey 1986). // Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Oxyurinae Anatinae Merginae Duck is the common name for a number of species in the Anatidae family of birds. ... Genera see text Goose (plural geese) is the general English name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the familyAnatidae. ... Genera Cygnus Bechstein 1803 Coscoroba Reichenbach 1853 Swans are large water birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. ... Subfamilies Dendrocygninae Thalassorninae Anserinae Stictonettinae Plectropterinae Tadorninae Anatinae Aythyinae Merginae Oxyurinae and see text Anatidae is the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl, such as geese and swan. ... The coniferous Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on earth. ... Paraphyletic - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... It has been suggested that Morphological convergence be merged into this article or section. ...

The species previously included, and their current subfamilial allocation, are:

Plectropterinae Binomial name Plectropterus gambensis (Linnaeus, 1766) The Spur-winged Goose, Plectropterus gambensis, is a large African bird in the family Anatidae, related to the geese and the shelducks, but distinct from both of these in a number of anatomical features, and therefore treated in its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae. ...

• Spur-winged Goose Plectropterus gambensis

Tadorninae Binomial name Plectropterus gambensis (Linnaeus, 1766) The Spur-winged Goose, Plectropterus gambensis, is a large African bird in the family Anatidae, related to the geese and the shelducks, but distinct from both of these in a number of anatomical features, and therefore treated in its own subfamily, the Plectropterinae. ... Genera Sarkidiornis Tadorna Malacorhynchus Cyanochen Chloephaga Neochen Alopochen Hymenolaimus Merganetta Tachyeres The Tadorninae is a subfamily of the Anatidae, the biological family that includes the ducks and most duck-like waterfowl such as the (geese and swans). ...

• Salvadori's Teal Salvadorina waigiuensis (initially placed in Anatinae)
• Blue Duck Hymenolaimus malacorhynchos
• Torrent Duck Merganetta armata

Anatinae Stamp issued by New Zealand depicting a Blue Duck Binomial name Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus (Gmelin, 1789) Subspecies (South Island Blue Duck) (North Island Blue Duck) The Blue Duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus) is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. ... Binomial name Merganetta armata (Gould, 1842) The Torrent Duck (Merganetta armata) is a member of the duck, goose and swan family Anatidae. ... The Anatinae is one of the subfamilies of the family Anatidae, which includes the swans, geese and ducks. ...

• Brazilian Duck Amazonetta brasiliensis

In addition, several species cannot with certainty be allocated to a subfamily, though they do not form a distinct clade. Rather, their characters are too ambiguous to allow unequivocal placement based on the available data (Livezey 1986, Sraml et al. 1996, Johnson & Sorenson 1999): Binomial name Amazonetta brasiliensis (Gmelin, 1789) The Brazilian Duck or Brazilian Teal (Amazonetta brasiliensis) is the only duck in the genus Amazonetta (Boetticher, 1929). ... A clade is a term belonging to the discipline of cladistics. ...

• Comb Duck Sarkidiornis melanotos: Tadorninae or basal Anatinae?
• Pink-eared Duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus: Tadorninae or Oxyurinae?
• Hartlaub's Duck Pteronetta hartlaubi: Anatinae or a very distinct clade?
• Green Pygmy Goose Nettapus pulchellus: Anatinae or a Gondwanan clade?
• Cotton Pygmy Goose Nettapus coromandellanus: Anatinae or a Gondwanan clade?
• African Pygmy Goose Nettapus auritus: Anatinae or a Gondwanan clade?
• Muscovy Duck Cairina moschata: Anatinae or Tadorninae?
• White-winged Wood Duck Cairina scutulata: Anatinae or closer to Aythyinae?
• Wood Duck Aix sponsa: Anatinae or Tadorninae?
• Mandarin Duck Aix galericulata: Anatinae or Tadorninae?
• Ringed Teal Callonetta leucophrys: Anatinae or Tadorninae?
• Maned Duck Chenonetta jubata: Anatinae or Tadorninae?

Binomial name Sarkidiornis melanotos (Pennant, 1769) The Comb Duck, Sarkidiornis melanotos, is an unusual duck, best placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae, though it has formerly been included in the Anatinae. ... In phylogenetics, basal members of a group are subgroups that diverged very early from the others. ... Binomial name Malacorhynchus membranaceus (Latham, 1802) The Pink-eared Duck, (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) is a species of duck found in Australia. ... Binomial name Pteronetta hartlaubii (Cassin, 1859) The Hartlaubs Duck (Pteronetta hartlaubii) is a species of bird native to Africa. ... Pangaea was formed by the merging of two continents, Laurasia and Gondwana East African and Kuungan Orogens 550 Ma reconstruction showing final stages of assembly The southern supercontinent Gondwana (originally Gondwanaland) included most of the landmasses which make up todays continents of the southern hemisphere, including Antarctica, South America... Binomial name Nettapus coromandelianus Gmelin, 1789 The Cotton Pygmy Goose (Nettapus coromandelianus) is a small perching duck which breeds in India and southeast Asia and south to northern Australia. ... Binomial name Cairina moschata (Linnaeus, 1758) The Muscovy Duck, Cairina moschata is a large duck which is native to Mexico, Central and South America. ... Binomial name Cairina scutulata (Müller, 1842) The White-winged Wood Duck (Cairina scutulata) is a species of dabbling duck in the genus Cairina. ... Genera see article text The 15 or so living species of diving duck, commonly called pochards or scaups, are part of the diverse and very large duck, goose, and swan family, Anatidae. ... Binomial name Aix sponsa Linnaeus, 1758 The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck, Aix sponsa is a medium-sized perching duck. ... Binomial name Aix galericulata (Linnaeus, 1758) The Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata), or just Mandarin, is a medium-sized perching duck, closely related to the North American Wood Duck. ... Binomial name Callonetta leucophrys (Vieillot, 1816) The Ringed Teal (Callonetta leucophrys) is the only species of the genus Callonetta. ... Binomial name Chenonetta jubata (Latham, 1802) The Maned Goose, Chenonetta jubata, is a dabbling duck found throughout much of Australia. ...

References

• Johnson, Kevin P. & Sorenson, Michael D. (1999): Phylogeny and biogeography of dabbling ducks (genus Anas): a comparison of molecular and morphological evidence. Auk 116(3): 792–805. PDF fulltext

• Livezey, Bradley C. (1986): A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters. Auk 103(4): 737-754. PDF fulltext

• Sraml, M.; Christidis, L.; Easteal, S.; Horn, P. & Collet, C. (1996): Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes). Australian Journal of Zoology 44(1): 47-58. DOI:10.1071/ZO9960047 (HTML abstract)