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Mergus

Typical mergansers
Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Subfamily:	Anatinae
Genus:	Mergus Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Mergus castor[1] Linnaeus, 1766
Species
†Mergus australis Auckland Island merganser Mergus merganser Common merganser †Mergus milleneri Chatham merganser Mergus octosetaceus Brazilian merganser Mergus serrator Red-breasted merganser Mergus squamatus Scaly-sided merganser

Mergus is the genus of the typical mergansers (/mɜːrˈɡænsərz/ mur-GAN-sərz)^[2] fish-eating ducks in the subfamily Anatinae. The genus name is a Latin word used by Pliny the Elder and other Roman authors to refer to an unspecified waterbird.^[3][4]

The common merganser (Mergus merganser) and red-breasted merganser (M. serrator) have broad ranges in the northern hemisphere. The Brazilian merganser (M. octosetaceus) is a South American duck, and one of the six most threatened waterfowl in the world, with possibly fewer than 250 birds in the wild. The scaly-sided merganser or "Chinese merganser" (M. squamatus) is an endangered species. It lives in temperate East Asia, breeding in the north and wintering in the south.

The hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus, formerly known as Mergus cucullatus) is not of this genus but is closely related. The other "aberrant" merganser, the smew (Mergellus albellus), is phylogenetically closer to goldeneyes (Bucephala).

Although they are seaducks, most of the mergansers prefer riverine habitats, with only the red-breasted merganser being common at sea. These large fish-eaters typically have black-and-white, brown and/or green hues in their plumage, and most have somewhat shaggy crests. All have serrated edges to their long and thin bills that help them grip their prey. Along with the smew and hooded merganser, they are therefore often known as "sawbills". The goldeneyes, on the other hand, feed mainly on mollusks, and therefore have a more typical duck-bill.^[5]

Mergus ducks are also classified as "diving ducks" because they submerge completely in looking for food. In other traits, however, the genera Mergus, Lophodytes, Mergellus, and Bucephala are very similar: uniquely among all Anseriformes, they do not have notches at the hind margin of their sternum, but holes surrounded by bone.^[6]

Taxonomy[edit]

The genus Mergus was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.^[7] The genus name is the Latin word for an unidentified waterbird mentioned by Pliny the Elder and other authors; some sources have identified the original mergus as referring to either a cormorantorScopoli's shearwater.^{[8][9][10][11]} The type species was designated as the common merganser (Mergus merganser) by Thomas Campbell Eyton in 1838.^[12][13]

Recent species[edit]

The genus contains four living species and two recently extinct species.^[14][15][16]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	†Mergus australis	Auckland Island merganser	Auckland Islands, New Zealand (extinct c. 1902). The species identity of merganser bones from mainland New Zealand - North, South, and Stewart Islands - is unresolved.[17]
	Mergus merganser	Common merganser	Europe, northern and central Asia, and North America
	†Mergus milleneri	Chatham Island merganser	Chatham Island, New Zealand. Extinct sometime after human settlement of the Chatham Islands,[16] which began c. 1500.[18]
	Mergus octosetaceus	Brazilian merganser	Brazil
	Mergus serrator	Red-breasted merganser	Northern North America, Greenland, Europe, and Asia
	Mergus squamatus	Scaly-sided merganser	East Asia

Fossil species[edit]

Some fossil members of this genus have been described:

• Mergus miscellus is known from the Middle Miocene Calvert Formation (Barstovian, c.14 million years ago) of Virginia, USA.
• Mergus connectens lived in the Early Pleistocene about 2–1 million years ago, in Central and Eastern Europe.^[19]

The Early Oligocene booby "Sula" ronzoni was at first mistakenly believed to be a typical merganser.^[20] A Late Serravallian (13–12 million years ago) fossil sometimes attributed to Mergus, found in the Sajóvölgyi FormationofMátraszőlős, Hungary, probably belongs to Mergellus.^[21] The affiliations of the mysterious "Anas" albae from the Messinian (c. 7–5 million years ago) of Hungary are undetermined; it was initially believed to be a typical merganser too.^[22]

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mergus.

• Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002b): Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press, Prague.