Anas acuta

The pintail or northern pintail is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas of Europe and across the Palearctic and North America. It is migratory and winters south of its breeding range as far as the equator. Unusually for a bird with such a large range, it has no geographical subspecies, although the possibly conspecific duck Eaton's pintail is considered to be a separate species.

Anas acuta

J.M.Garg · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
northern pintailPBDB
Sits inside
AnasPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Anatinae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anatinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Anatinae
Mass
1.02 kgWikidata

Time the record covers

At least 3.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.6 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 5.333 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 29 occurrencesPliocene — about 1 of 29 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 25 of 29 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 3 of 29 occurrences5.4–5.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.3–5.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.1–4.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.9–4.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.7–4.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.5–4.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.3–4.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.9–3.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences3.7–3.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.7–2.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.5–2.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.1–1.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.9–1.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.8–1.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.6–1.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.4–1.2 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences1.2–972 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences972 ka–778 ka Mya — about 0.5 occurrences778 ka–583 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence583 ka–389 ka Mya — about 1 occurrence389 ka–194 ka Mya — about 2 occurrences194 ka–0 Mya — about 20 occurrences3.6 Mya11.7 ka5.8 Mya0 Mya

29 occurrences of Anas acuta on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

29 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

4 formations

Gabal Silsila — 24.77°N, 32.95°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EYorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WBecerra — 19.90°N, 99.13°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Anas acuta has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 23 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Anas acuta and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Anas acuta and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,146 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 29 sites for Anas acuta, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

24 references

Each of the 29 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 12 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content3

Picture of Anas acuta

Credit
J.M.Garg
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Anas acuta · ISM:ISM-Aves:692511

3D model

Source
Sketchfab
Licence
CC Attribution
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itAnas through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Linnaeus 1758)