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Mergini

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Source Data

Source	ID	Link
Global Biodiversity Information Facility ID (GBIF)	Not linked to a GBIF record.
PaleoBioDB ID (PBDB)	83442	https://paleobiodb.org/classic/checkTaxonInfo?taxon_no=83442

Rank

tribe (PBDB)

Taxonomy (PBDB)

Life : Animalia : Chordata : Aves : Anseriformes : Anatidae : Mergini

Classification
(PBDB,GBIF)

Rank	Name	Author
-	Eukaryota
-	Opisthokonta	Cavalier-Smith 1987
kingdom	Animalia
-	Triploblastica	Lankester 1877
-	Nephrozoa	Jondelius et al. 2002
-	Deuterostomia	Grobben 1908
phylum	Chordata	Haeckel 1847
subphylum	Vertebrata	Lamarck 1801
superclass	Gnathostomata	Gegenbauer 1874
-	Osteichthyes
-	Sarcopterygii	Romer 1955
subclass	Dipnotetrapodomorpha
subclass	Tetrapodomorpha
-	Tetrapoda
-	Reptiliomorpha	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Anthracosauria	Säve-Söderbergh 1934
-	Batrachosauria
-	Cotylosauria
-	Amniota	Haeckel 1866
-	Sauropsida	Huxley 1864
class	Reptilia	Laurenti 1768
subclass	Eureptilia
-	Romeriida	Gauthier et al. 1988
-	Diapsida
-	Eosuchia
-	Neodiapsida	Benton 1985
-	Sauria	Gauthier 1984
-	Archosauromorpha
-	Crocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauriformes	Gauthier 1986
-	Eucrocopoda	Ezcurra 2016
-	Archosauria
informal	Avemetatarsalia	Benton 1999
-	Ornithodira	Gauthier 1986
-	Dinosauromorpha	Benton 1985
-	Dinosauriformes	Novas 1992
-	Dinosauria
-	Saurischia
-	Theropoda
-	Neotheropoda	Bakker 1986
-	Averostra	Paul 2002
-	Tetanurae	Gauthier 1986
order	Avetheropoda	Paul 1988
suborder	Coelurosauria	Huene 1914
-	Maniraptora	Gauthier 1986
-	Paraves	Sereno 1997
class	Aves	Linnaeus 1758
-	Pygostylia	Chiappe 2002
-	Ornithothoraces	Chiappe and Calvo 1994
-	Ornithuromorpha	Chiappe et al. 1999
subclass	Ornithurae	Haeckel 1866
subclass	Neornithes	Gadow 1893
-	Neognathae
-	Galloanserae	Sibley and Ahlquist 1990
superorder	Galloanserimorphae
order	Anseriformes	Wagler 1831
family	Anatidae	Vigors 1825
subfamily	Anatinae	Vigors 1825
tribe	Mergini

Common Name

seaduck

Opinions (PBDB)

Name	Rank	Opinion	Evidence	Author
Mergini	subfamily	belongs to Anatidae	stated without evidence	Lambrecht, 1933
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatinae	stated without evidence	Alvarez and Olson, 1978
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatinae	stated with evidence	Gonzalez et al., 2009
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatidae	stated without evidence	Zelenkov, 2011
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatinae	stated without evidence	Zelenkov, 2012
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatinae	stated with evidence	Watanabe and Matsuoka, 2015
Mergini	tribe	belongs to Anatinae	stated without evidence	Zelenkov, 2017

Status (PBDB)

extant

Taxon Size (PBDB)

Extant Size (PBDB)

21 (66%)

First Recorded Appearance

23.0 - 13.8 Ma
Miocene

Environment

freshwater (based on Anatinae)

Motility

actively mobile (based on Theropoda)

Diet

herbivore (based on Anatinae)

Reproduction

oviparous, dispersal=direct/internal,mobile (based on Theropoda)

Ontogeny

accretion,modification of parts (based on Theropoda)

Taphonomy

hydroxylapatite,compact or dense (based on Theropoda)

Primary Reference (PBDB)

S. L. Olson and P. C. Rasmussen. 2001. Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina. Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 90:233-365

Subtaxa

Name	Status	Common Name(s)	Fossil Occurrences	Oldest	Youngest
Bucephala genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		34	16.0 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant
Clangula genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		12	13.7 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant
Lophodytes genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		8	0.13 Ma Pleistocene	0 Ma Extant
Melanitta genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Scoter	56	5.33 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant
Mergus genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Merganser	48	16.0 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant
Ocyplonessa ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Merganser	2	23.0 Ma Miocene	13.6 Ma Miocene
Shiriyanetta ✝ genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)		2	0.78 Ma Pleistocene	0.13 Ma Pleistocene
Somateria genus	accepted (GBIF) listed (PBDB)	Eider	15	5.33 Ma Miocene	0 Ma Extant

Synonymy List

Year	Name and Author
1933	Merginae Lambrecht p. 353
1940	Merginae Wetmore p. 28
1964	Merginae Brodkorb p. 330
1972	Merginae Howard p. 11
1978	Mergini Alvarez and Olson p. 522
1987	Mergini Howard and Barnes p. 3
1990	Mergini Chandler p. 130
1992	Mergini Emslie p. 257

Year	Name and Author
2001	Mergini Olson and Rasmussen p. 286
2009	Mergini Gonzalez et al.
2011	Mergini Zelenkov p. 194
2012	Mergini Zelenkov p. 526
2014	Mergini del Hoyo et al.
2015	Mergini Watanabe and Matsuoka pp. e994745-4
2017	Mergini Zelenkov p. 224
2020	Mergini Watanabe et al. p. 3

References

Olson S. L., Rasmussen P. C. (2001) Miocene and Pliocene birds from the Lee Creek Mine, North Carolina, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 90, 233-365

Lambrecht K. (1933) Handbuch der Palaeornithologie, 1-1024

Brodkorb P. (1964) Catalogue of Fossil Birds. Part 2 (Anseriformes through Galliformes), Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 8 3, 195-335

Howard H. (1972) Type specimens of avian fossils in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Contributions in Science, 1-27

Alvarez R., Olson S. L. (1978) A new merganser from the Miocene of Virginia (Aves: Anatidae), Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 91 2, 522-532

Howard H., Barnes L. G. (1987) Middle Miocene marine birds from the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, Orange County, California, Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County 383, 1-9

Chandler R. M. (1990) Fossil birds of the San Diego Formation, Late Pliocene, Blancan, San Diego County, California, Ornithological Monographs 44, 73-161

Emslie S. D. (1992) Two new late Blancan avifaunas from Florida and the extinction of wetland birds in the Plio-Pleistocene, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Science Series 36, 249-269

Gonzalez J., Düttman H., et al (2009) Phylogenetic relationships based on two mitochondrial genes and hybridization patterns in Anatidae, Journal of Zoology 279, 310-318

Zelenkov N. V. (2011) Diving Ducks from the Middle Miocene of Western Mongolia, Paleontological Journal 45 2, 191-199

Zelenkov N. V. (2012) A New Duck from the Middle Miocene of Mongolia, with Comments on Miocene Evolution of Ducks, Paleontological Journal 46 5, 520-530

del Hoyo J., Collar N. J., et al (2014) HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines, 1-904

Watanabe J., Matsuoka H. (2015) Flightless diving duck (Aves, Anatidae) from the Pleistocene of Shiriya, northeast Japan, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35 6, e994745 doi:10.1080/02724634.2014.994745

Zelenkov N. V. (2017) Finds of Fragmentary Bird Skeletons in the Middle Miocene of the Northern Caucasus, Doklady Biological Sciences 477, 223-226

Data courtesy of: PBDB: The Paleobiology Database, Creative Commons CC-BY licenced. , GBIF: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, various licences, iDigBio, various licences, and EOL: The Encyclopedia of Life (Open Data Public Domain). Because fossils are made of minerals too!

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