Alopochen is a genus of the bird family Anatidae, part of the subfamily Tadorninae along with the shelducks. It contains one extant species, the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca), and three or four species which became extinct in the last 1,000 years or so. The Egyptian goose is native to mainland Africa, and the extinct species are from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands.

Alopochen
Egyptian goose
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Subfamily: Tadorninae
Genus: Alopochen
Stejneger, 1885
Synonyms
  • Chenalopex Stephens 1824 non Vieillot 1818[1][2]
  • Mascarenochen Cowles 1994
  • Proanser Umans'ka 1979a
  • Anserobranta Kuročkin & Ganya 1972

mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggest that the relationships of Alopochen to Tadorna need further investigation.[3]

Species

edit

The extinct species of the genus are:

The generic name looks like Greek ἀλώπηξ + χήν = "fox-goose", referring to the colour of its back, but with a Greek language error; the linguistically correct form would have been *Alopecchen or *Alopecochen.

References

edit
  1. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  2. ^ "Part 7- Vertebrates". Collection of genus-group names in a systematic arrangement. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  3. ^ 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.