Anserinae

Mute swan Cygnus olor, photographed by Andrew Dunn.

Belongs within: Anatidae.
Contains: Branta, Anser.

The Anserinae contains the swans and (the majority of the) geese. In general, Anserinae have longer necks than most other waterfowl, and more robust, less flattened bills. However, recent phylogenetic analyses (e.g. Burleigh et al. 2015) place the pink-eared duck Malacorhynchus membranaceus of Australia as a basal anserine despite its short neck and broadly flattened bill. Also placed within the Anserinae are the coscoroba Coscoroba coscoroba, a white swan-like bird from southern South America, and the Cape Barren goose Cereopsis novaehollandiae of southern Australia. Cnemiornis, a recently extinct genus of two species of large flightless goose from New Zealand, is generally believed to have been closely allied to the Cape Barren goose.

The swans of the genus Cygnus are particularly large and long-necked birds. The majority of swan species are found in higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere and are predominantly white in coloration. However, distinctive in both distribution and coloration are the black swan Cygnus atratus of Australia and the black-necked swan C. melancoryphus of South America. The mute swan Cygnus olor has an orange-red bill with a large black knob at the base, and has been widely introduced outside its native Palaearctic range as an ornamental bird.

See also: Coscoroba.

<==Anserinae [Anseriinae, Anserina, Cygnopsidinae]
    |  i. s.: Geochen rhuax (n. d.) PJ02
    |--+--Malacorhynchus Swainson 1831 BKB15, CC10 [Malacorhynchini]
    |  |    |--*M. membranaceus (Latham 1802) [=Anas membranacea; incl. M. membranaceus assimilis Mathews 1912] CC10
    |  |    `--M. scarletti Olson 1977 CC10
    |  `--+--Coscoroba Reichenbach 1853 BKB15, B94 [Coscorobinae]
    |     |    `--C. coscoroba BKB15
    |     `--Cereopsini [Cereopsina] CC10
    |          |--Cereopsis Latham 1802 BKB15, CC10 [Cereopseinae]
    |          |    `--*C. novaehollandiae Latham 1802 (see below for synonymy) CC10
    |          `--Cnemiornis Owen 1866 [Cnemiornithidae] CC10
    |               |--*C. calcitrans Owen 1866 (see below for synonymy) CC10
    |               `--C. gracilis Forbes 1892 [incl. C. septentrionalis Oliver 1955] CC10
    `--+--Anserini PJ02
       |    |--Branta BKB15
       |    `--+--+--‘Chen’ canagica BKB15
       |       |  `--Anser BKB15
       |       `--Chen BKB15
       |            |--C. caerulescens BKB15
       |            `--C. rossii BKB15
       `--Cygnus Bechstein 1803 BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
            |  i. s.: C. atavus (Fraas 1870) (see below for synonymy) M02
            |         C. equitum Bate 1916 [=Anser equitum, C. (Olor) equitum] M02
            |         C. herenthalsi Beneden in Lambrecht 1933 [=C. herrenthalsi] M02
            |         C. verae Boev 2000 M02
            |         C. (Olor Wagler 1832) M02
            |           |--C. (O.) bewickii Yarrell 1830 M02 (see below for synonymy)
            |           |--C. (O.) csakvarensis Lambrecht 1933 [=*Cygnanser csakvarensis] M02
            |           `--C. (O.) falconeri Parker 1865 (see below for synonymy) M02
            |--C. melancoryphus BKB15
            `--+--+--*C. (Cygnus) olor (Gmelin 1789) CC10, BKB15, CC10 [=Anas olor CC10]
               |  `--C. atratus (Latham 1790) BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
               `--+--C. buccinator BKB15 [=C. cygnus buccinator RN72, Olor buccinator L81]
                  `--+--C. columbianus (Ord 1815) BKB15, CS77 (see below for synonymy)
                     `--C. cygnus (Linnaeus 1758) BKB15, M02 [=Anas cygnus M02; incl. C. cygnus islandicus Brehm 1831 CS77]

*Cereopsis novaehollandiae Latham 1802 [=C. cinerea Vieillot 1816; incl. C. australis Swainson 1837, C. novaehollandiae georgi Mathews 1912, C. novaehollandiae grisea Storr 1980, Anser griseus Vieillot 1818, C. novaezealandiae Oliver 1955 non Forbes 1892, Anas terraeleeuwin Bennett 1830] CC10

*Cnemiornis calcitrans Owen 1866 [incl. Cn. minor Forbes 1892, Cereopsis novaezealandiae Forbes 1892] CC10

Cygnus Bechstein 1803 BKB15, CC10 [incl. Chenopis Wagler 1832 CC10, Cygnanser Kretzoi 1957 M02, Palaeocycnus Stejneger 1882 M02, Palaeocygnus Oberholser 1908 M02; Cygnina, Cygninae, Olorinae]

Cygnus atavus (Fraas 1870) [=Anas atava, Anser atavus; incl. Anas cygniformis Fraas 1870, Anser cygniformis, Palaelodus steinheimensis Fraas 1870] M02

Cygnus atratus (Latham 1790) BKB15, CC10 [=Anas atrata CC10, *Chenopis atrata CC10, Chenopis atratus CC10, Chenopsis (l. c.) atrata CC10, Chenopsis (l. c.) atratus CC10; incl. Cygnus chathamicus Oliver 1955 CC10, Cy. chathamensis CC10, Cy. chathamica CC10, Anas cygnus niger Perry 1811 CC10, Anser novaehollandiae Bonnaterre 1791 CC10, Anas plutonia Shaw 1792 CC10, Cygnus plutonius CC10, Chenopis atrata roberti Mathews 1912 CC10, Chenopis sumnerensis Forbes 1890 CC10, Cygnus sumnerensis CC10]

Cygnus columbianus (Ord 1815) BKB15, CS77 [=Anas columbianus CS77; incl. C. columbianus jankowskii Alpheraky 1904 CS77]

Cygnus (Olor) bewickii Yarrell 1830 M02 [=C. columbianus bewickii CS77; incl. Anser liskunae Kuročkin 1976 M02, Olor liskunae M02, A. subanser Jánossy 1983 M02]

Cygnus (Olor) falconeri Parker 1865 [=*Palaeocycnus falconeri, *Palaeocygnus falconeri; incl. Cygnus melitensis Falconer 1868] M02

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[CS77] Cramp, S., & K. E. L. Simmons (eds) 1977. Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa: The Birds of the Western Palaearctic vol. 1. Ostrich to Ducks. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

[L81] Long, J. L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World: The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Reed: Sydney.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[PJ02] Paxinos, E. E., H. F. James, S. L. Olson, M. D. Sorenson, J. Jackson & R. C. Fleischer. 2002. MtDNA from fossils reveals a radiation of Hawaiian geese recently derived from the Canada goose (Branta canadensis). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 99: 1399–1404.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds.) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 1. Blandford Press: London.

Last updated: 27 November 2021.