Tachyeres patachonicus
Tachyeres pteneres
Tachyeres brachypterus
Tachyeres leucocephalus
The steamer ducks are a genus (Tachyeres) of ducks in the family Anatidae. All of the four species occur in South America, and all except the Flying Steamer Duck are flightless; even this one species capable of flight rarely takes to the air. The genus name Tachyeres, "having fast oars" or "fast rower", comes from Ancient Greek ταχυ- "fast" + ἐρέσσω "I row (as with oars)". The common name "steamer ducks" derives because, when swimming fast, they flap their wings into the water as well as using their feet, creating an effect like a paddle steamer. They can be aggressive and are capable of chasing off predators like petrels.
They are usually placed in the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae. However, mtDNA sequence analyses of the cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2 genes indicate that Tachyeres rather belongs into a distinct clade of aberrant South American dabbling ducks, which also includes the Brazilian, the Crested, and the Bronze-winged Ducks.
There are four species:
- Flying Steamer Duck Tachyeres patachonicus
- Fuegian Steamer Duck Tachyeres pteneres
- Chubut Steamer Duck Tachyeres leucocephalus
- Falkland Steamer Duck Tachyeres brachypterus
The Chubut Steamer Duck was only described in 1981.
Famous quotes containing the words steamer and/or duck:
“Again we mistook a little rocky islet seen through the “drisk,” with some taller bare trunks or stumps on it, for the steamer with its smoke-pipes, but as it had not changed its position after half an hour, we were undeceived. So much do the works of man resemble the works of nature. A moose might mistake a steamer for a floating isle, and not be scared till he heard its puffing or its whistle.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Here is no eft or mortal snake
But only sluggish duck and drake.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)