Mergini

The sea ducks (Mergini) are a tribe of the duck subfamily of birds, the Anatinae. The taxonomy of this group is incomplete. Some authorities separate the group as a subfamily, while others remove some genera. Most species within the group spend their winters near coastal waters. Many species have developed specialized salt glands to allow them to tolerate salt water, but these are poorly developed in juveniles. Some of the species prefer riverine habitats. All but two of the 22 species in this group live in far northern latitudes.

Mergini

Peter Massas · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 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
seaduckPBDB
Sits inside
AnatinaePBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Anatinae
Life habit
volantPBDB, for Anatinae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Theropoda
Environment
freshwaterPBDB, for Anatinae

Time the record covers

At least 13 million years on record.

The record covers at least 13.82 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 15.98 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 10 of 260 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 12 of 260 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 130 of 260 occurrencesPleistocene16–16 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences16–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences14–14 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–13 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–12 Mya — about 1 occurrence12–11 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences10–9.9 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.9–9.3 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.3–8.8 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.8–8.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences8.2–7.7 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.7–7.1 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.1–6.6 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.6–6.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.0–5.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.5–4.9 Mya — about 2 occurrences4.9–4.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences4.4–3.8 Mya — about 3 occurrences3.8–3.3 Mya — about 2 occurrences3.3–2.7 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.7–2.2 Mya — about 4 occurrences2.2–1.6 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.6–1.1 Mya — about 5 occurrences1.1–549 ka Mya — about 11 occurrences549 ka–0 Mya — about 215 occurrences13.82 Mya11.7 ka16.5 Mya0 Mya

260 occurrences of Mergini 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

260 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

26 formations

Yorktown — 35.36°N, 76.82°WSan Pedro — 33.75°N, 118.28°WBermont — 27.70°N, 82.50°WSajovolgyi — 47.97°N, 19.69°EGabal Silsila — 24.43°N, 32.95°EHillgrove — 45.13°S, 170.97°ECromer Forest Bed — 51.64°N, 0.80°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.88°N, 1.44°ETamiami — 27.37°N, 82.45°WJuntura — 43.60°N, 117.50°WCalvert — 38.16°N, 76.83°WGebel Silsila-YCS — 24.50°N, 33.00°EPalos Verdes Sand — 33.60°N, 117.80°W"Topanga" — 33.66°N, 117.63°WPeace River — 27.74°N, 81.93°WNorwich Crag — 52.24°N, 1.05°EAmerican Falls Lake Bed E — 42.80°N, 112.90°WHagerman — 42.81°N, 114.95°WSan Diego — 32.64°N, 117.05°WGlenns Ferry — 42.80°N, 114.90°WManix — 34.80°N, 117.00°WPalm Springs — 32.89°N, 116.18°WOkeechobee — 27.53°N, 80.47°WMandano — 35.31°N, 140.08°EKiyokawa — 35.46°N, 140.09°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Mergini has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 216 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Mergini and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Mergini and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

2,118 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 146 sites for Mergini, 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

91 references

Each of the 260 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. 79 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 content1

Picture of Mergini

Credit
Peter Massas
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Mergini was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was 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 itAnatinae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Bonaparte 1838)