Dendrocygninae

Taxobox
name = Dendrocygninae

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image_width = 250px
image_caption = Black-Bellied Whistling Duck, Birding Center, Port Aransas, Texas
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Anseriformes
familia = Anatidae
subfamilia = Dendrocygninae
subfamilia_authority = Reichenbach, 1853
genus = "Dendrocygna"
genus_authority = Swainson, 1837
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision =
* "Dendrocygna arborea"
* "Dendrocygna arcuata"
* "Dendrocygna autumnalis"
* "Dendrocygna bicolor"
* "Dendrocygna eytoni"
* "Dendrocygna guttata"
* "Dendrocygna javanica"
* "Dendrocygna viduata"

Dendrocygninae is a subfamily of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomical approaches, they are either considered a separate family Dendrocygnidae, or a tribe Dendrocygnini in the goose subfamily Anserinae (e.g. Terres & NAS, 1991).

It contains only one genus, "Dendrocygna", containing eight living species, and one known from hitherto undescribed subfossils from Aitutaki, Cook Islands (Steadman, 2006). These species are the whistling ducks and they have a worldwide distribution through the tropics and subtropics. These ducks have, as their name implies, distinctive whistling calls.

The whistling ducks have long legs and necks, and are very gregarious, flying to and from night-time roosts in large flocks. Both sexes have the same plumage, and all have a hunched appearance and black underwings in flight.

Species

* Black-billed Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna arborea"
* Wandering Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna arcuata"
* Black-bellied Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna autumnalis"
* Fulvous Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna bicolor"
* Plumed Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna eytoni"
* Spotted Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna guttata"
* Lesser Whistling Duck, or Indian Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna javanica"
* White-faced Whistling Duck, "Dendrocygna viduata"

Gallery

References

* Steadman, David William (2006): "Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Islands Birds". University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-77142-3.

* Terres, John K. & National Audubon Society (1991): "The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds". Wings Books, New York. ISBN 0-517-03288-0