Pacific black duck: Difference between revisions

The Pacific black duck was [[Species description|formally described]] in 1789 by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich Gmelin]] in his revised and expanded edition of [[Carl Linnaeus]]'s ''[[Systema Naturae]]''. He placed it with all the other ducks, geese and swans in the [[genus]] ''[[Anas]]'' and coined the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Anas superciliosa''.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 2 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=537 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656030 }}</ref> Gmelin based his description on the "Supercilious duck" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist [[John Latham (ornithologist)|John Latham]] in his ''A General Synopsis of Birds''. The naturalist [[Joseph Banks]] had provided Latham with a drawing of the duck from New Zealand.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Latham | first=John | author-link=John Latham (ornithologist) | year=1785 | title=A General Synopsis of Birds | volume=3, Part 2 | publisher=Printed for Leigh and Sotheby | location=London | page=497, No. 45 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40079318 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor1-last=Mayr | editor1-first=Ernst | editor1-link=Ernst Mayr | editor2-last=Cottrell | editor2-first=G. William | year=1979 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=1 | edition=2nd | publisher=Museum of Comparative Zoology | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=472 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/16109112 }}</ref> The naturalist [[Joseph Banks]] had provided Latham with a water-colour drawing of the duck by [[Georg Forster]] who had accompanied [[James Cook]] on his [[Second voyage of James Cook|second voyage to the Pacific Ocean]]. His picture was drawn at [[Dusky Sound]], a fiord on the southwest corner of New Zealand. This picture is the [[holotype]] for the species and is now held by the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] in London.<ref>{{ cite journal | last=Medway | first=David G. | date=1976 | title=Extant types of New Zealand birds from Cook's voyages. Part 1: Historical and type paintings | journal=Notornis | volume=23 | issue=1 | pages=45-60 [54, "Grey duck"] | url=https://www.birdsnz.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Notornis_23_1.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{ cite journal | last=Lysaght | first=Averil | date=1959 | title=Some eighteenth century bird paintings in the library of Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) | journal=Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History) Historical Series | volume=1 | issue=6 | pages=251-371 [290, No. 77] | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2238991 }}</ref> The genus name ''Anas'' is the Latin word for a duck. The specific epithet ''superciliosa'' is from Latin meaning "supercilious" or "eye-browed", a reference to the prominent [[supercilium]] or eye-stripe.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n46/mode/1up 46], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n374/mode/1up 374]}}</ref>