Magpie Goose

Magpie Goose / Anseranas semipalmata

Magpie Goose

Here the details of the Magpie Goose named bird below:

SCI Name:  Anseranas semipalmata
Protonym:  Anas semipalmata Trans.Linn.Soc.London(1), 4 p.103
Taxonomy:  Anseriformes / Anseranatidae /
Taxonomy Code:  maggoo1
Type Locality:  Hawkesbury River, New South Wales.
Author:  
Publish Year:  1798
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

ANSERANAS
(Anseranatidae; Ϯ Magpie Goose A. semipalmata) Portmanteau of genera Anser Brisson 1760, goose, and Anas Linnaeus, 1758, duck.  The aberrant and primitive Magpie Goose is now considered to form a link between the screamers Anhimidae and the wildfowl Anatidae; "This seems to be a species not hitherto described; it is nearly of the size of the wild Goose  ...  the legs are red, and the toes only webbed half-way from the base  ...  It is peculiar in that the windpipe forms several beautiful circumvolutions on the breast, under the skin, before it enters the thorax: its note is said to be tuneful and melodious; and it was observed sometimes to perch on trees, in the manner of the Whistling Duck" (Latham 1798); "XIIe Sous·Genre. CANAROIE, anseranas.  Taille et aspect général d'une oie; bec des canards proprement dits; tarses longs, et doigts presque à demi séparés ou seulement unis à leur base par une membrane peu étendue.  M. Cuvier a publié, dans le tome XIV des Mémoires du Muséum, p. 345, un travail descriptif très complet, sur l'espèce qui doit servir de type à cette division. Ce savant la décrit ainsi:  Le CANARD PIE A PIEDS DEMI-PALMÉS, de la Nouvelle-Hollande (anas melanoleuca, Lath., Cuv. (Mém. du Mus., 7e année, XIe cahier, p. 345, pl. 19)." (Lesson 1828); "Anseranas Lesson, Man. d'Orn., 2, 1828, p. 418. Type, by monotypy, Anas melanoleuca Latham = Anas semipalmata Latham." (Peters. 1931, I, p. 144). 
Var. Anseranos, Anseranus.
Synon. Chenogeranus, Choristopus.

semipalmata / semipalmatus
Mod. L. semipalmatus  semipalmated  < L. semi-  half-, semi-, small  < semis, semissis  half  < as, assis  whole; palmatus  palmate  < palma  palm.
● ex Tringa hiaticula Ord, 1824 (Charadrius).
● ex “Semipalmated Snipe” of Pennant 1785, and Latham 1785 (Tringa).