A new species of small flightless duck from Amsterdam Island, southern Indian Ocean (Anatidae: Anas)

Abstract

The islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul each appear to have been inhabited by endemic populations of ducks that were exterminated by humans or human-introduced mammals in the past two hundred years. The duck from St. Paul is known only from a historical account in 1793. Abundant bone remains of a duck from Amsterdam Island are described as a new species, Anas marecula. This was a small, teal-sized species with very reduced wings and pectoral girdle, so that it was certainly flightless. The short, pointed bill suggests a possible derivation of the species from an ancestor related to the widgeons formerly segregated in the genus Mareca.