Salvadori's Teal
The Salvadori's Teal or Salvadori's Duck (Salvadorina waigiuensis) is a species of bird native to New Guinea. It is placed in the monotypic genus Salvadorina.
Initially, it was believed to belong to the "perching ducks", a paraphyletic assemblage of species which generally fell between dabbling ducks and shelducks. With the breaking-up of the "perching ducks", it was rather provisionally placed in the dabbling duck genus Anas. It was then reinstated in its own genus and moved to the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae, which also contains the Torrent Duck and Blue Duck which convergently have evolved adaptations to mountain stream habitat. All or some of these species may actually be surviving lineages of an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl (Sraml et al. 1996).
It has a dark brown head and neck, and its body is barred and spotted dark brown and off white, with orange legs and a yellow bill.
It is a secretive inhabitant of fast-flowing streams and alpine lakes between 500 and 3.700m in the mountains. It is one of only four waterfowl species that are adapted to life on fast-flowing rivers, the other being the Torrent, the Blue and Harlequin Duck. It is an omnivore. It locates its nest near water, and lays 2 to 4 eggs in the dry season. The Salvadori's Teal is the sole endemic duck species of the island of New Guinea. The IUCN has listed the bird as vulnerable, and the total population may be slowly declining.
The name commemorates the Italian naturalist Tommaso Salvadori.
Initially, it was believed to belong to the "perching ducks", a paraphyletic assemblage of species which generally fell between dabbling ducks and shelducks. With the breaking-up of the "perching ducks", it was rather provisionally placed in the dabbling duck genus Anas. It was then reinstated in its own genus and moved to the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae, which also contains the Torrent Duck and Blue Duck which convergently have evolved adaptations to mountain stream habitat. All or some of these species may actually be surviving lineages of an ancient Gondwanan radiation of waterfowl (Sraml et al. 1996).
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| Salvadori's Teal |
Image Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/toxostoma/3131729829/
It has a dark brown head and neck, and its body is barred and spotted dark brown and off white, with orange legs and a yellow bill.
It is a secretive inhabitant of fast-flowing streams and alpine lakes between 500 and 3.700m in the mountains. It is one of only four waterfowl species that are adapted to life on fast-flowing rivers, the other being the Torrent, the Blue and Harlequin Duck. It is an omnivore. It locates its nest near water, and lays 2 to 4 eggs in the dry season. The Salvadori's Teal is the sole endemic duck species of the island of New Guinea. The IUCN has listed the bird as vulnerable, and the total population may be slowly declining.
The name commemorates the Italian naturalist Tommaso Salvadori.
