Spatula (bird)

This article is about the bird. For other uses, see Spatula (disambiguation).

Spatula
Male northern shoveler
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Tribe:	Anatini
Genus:	Spatula Boie, F, 1822
Type species
Anas clypeata Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
Anas (Pterocyanea) Bonaparte 1841 Querquedula Stephens 1824 Querquedula Oken 1817 nomen nudum Rhynchaspis Stephens 1824 Rhynchoplatus Berthold 1827 Cyanopterus Bonaparte1838 non Haliday 1835 Clypeata Lesson 1828 Anas (Micronetta) Roberts 1922 Adelonetta Heine & Reichenow 1890 Punanetta Bonaparte 1856 Fugaluna Trennins 1858

Spatula is a genus or subgenus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the shovelers, garganey, and several species of American teals.

Taxonomy

The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. A molecular phylogenetic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic. Based on this published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with 10 species moved into the resurrected genus Spatula.

The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler. The name Spatula is the Latin word for "spoon", from which the English word "spatula" also originates.

Extant species

The genus contains 10 species:

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	S. querquedula	Garganey	Europe and western Asia
	S. hottentota	Blue-billed teal	eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan and Ethiopia west to Niger and Nigeria and south to South Africa and Namibia
	S. puna	Puna teal	the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and extreme northwestern Argentina
	S. versicolor	Silver teal	southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the Falkland Islands
	S. platalea	Red shoveler	Tierra del Fuego northwards to Chile and most parts of Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands and small isolated breeding populations in southern Peru
	S. cyanoptera	Cinnamon teal	South America, western United States and extreme southwestern Canada; a rare visitor to the East Coast of the United States
	S. discors	Blue-winged teal	North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to northern Texas
	S. smithii	Cape shoveler	South Africa, uncommon further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia
	S. rhynchotis	Australasian shoveler	Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand
	S. clypeata	Northern shoveler	northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America

Phylogeny

Cladogram based on the analysis of Gonzalez and colleagues published in 2009.

Spatula	Garganey Blue-billed teal Puna teal Silver teal Red shoveler Blue-winged teal Cinnamon teal Cape shoveler Northern shoveler Australasian shoveler