Dendrocygna

The whistling ducks or tree ducks are a subfamily, Dendrocygninae, of the duck, goose and swan family of birds, Anatidae. In other taxonomic schemes, they are considered a separate family, Dendrocygnidae. Some taxonomists list only one genus, Dendrocygna, which contains eight living species, and one undescribed extinct species from Aitutaki of the Cook Islands, but other taxonomists also list the white-backed duck under the subfamily.

Dendrocygna

Uncredited · 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
Sits inside
DendrocygninaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Anseriformes
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anseriformes
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Theropoda

Time the record covers

At least 3.7 million years on record.

The record covers at least 3.8 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 27 occurrencesMiocene — about 1 of 27 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 3 of 27 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 10 of 27 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences20–19 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences19–18 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences18–17 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 1 occurrence3.9–3.1 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 23 occurrences3.8 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

27 occurrences of Dendrocygna on record. 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

27 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

Nuapua — 20.75°S, 63.07°WTamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WPampean — 38.20°S, 59.12°WAllingham — 19.72°S, 145.60°E

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The named rock units Dendrocygna 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.

Found in the same rock

533 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 21 sites for Dendrocygna, 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

19 references

Each of the 27 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. 7 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 content2

Picture of Dendrocygna

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

3D model

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

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

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 itDendrocygninae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Swinson 1837