Genus Biziura Stephens, 1824

Museums

Regional Maps

• Biziura Stephens, J.F. 1824. General Zoology or Systematic Natural History, commenced by the late George Shaw, M.D.F.R.S. & C. Aves, Part 2. London : G. Wilkie Vol. XII(2) pp. 1-264, pl. 36-64. [221].

  Type species:

   Anas lobata Shaw, 1796 by original designation.
• Hydrobates Temminck, 1826.
• Hygrobates Lichtenstein, 1837.
• Hina G.R. Gray, 1841.
• Pileata T. Brown, 1846.
• Bizeura Eyton, 1841.

Introduction

The placement of the genus Biziura within Anatidae is uncertain. The genus has traditionally been placed as sister to the Oxyura along with Nomonyx (C & S America) and Heteronetta (S America) in the Oxyurini (sensu stricto Livezey, 1995). However, in a study of the Oxyurinae, McCracken et al. (1999) found strong incongruence between morphological and molecular phylogenies and concluded that the Oxyurinae including Biziura was polyphyletic, and placed Stictonetta as sister to the Oxyurinae, and Biziura as sister to the Anatinae+Anserinae, or the Anserinae alone. Gonzalez et al. (2009) constructed a molecular phylogeny of the Anatidae and also found Biziura to fall outside a monophyletic Oxyurini, and that it may be basal to both the Oxyurini and the Anserinae as suggested by McCracken et al. (1999). While del Hoyo & Collar (2014) retain Biziura in the Oxyurinae, we follow Dickinson & Remsen (2013) in placing Biziura as incertae sedis in the Anatinae, until further work can clarify the relationships between these taxa.

Distribution

States

Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia

IBRA and IMCRA regions

IBRA

ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Tas, Vic: Brigalow Belt South (BBS), Ben Lomond (BEL), Broken Hill Complex (BHC), Channel Country (CHC), Cobar Peneplain (CP), Darling Riverine Plains (DRP), Eyre Yorke Block (EYB), Flinders Lofty Block (FLB), Flinders (FLI), Gawler (GAW), Kanmantoo (KAN), King (KIN), Murray Darling Depression (MDD), Mulga Lands (ML), Nandewar (NAN), Naracoorte Coastal Plain (NCP), New England Tablelands (NET), NSW North Coast (NNC), NSW South Western Slopes (NSS), Riverina (RIV), Sydney Basin (SB), South East Coastal Plain (SCP), South East Corner (SEC), South Eastern Highlands (SEH), South Eastern Queensland (SEQ), Simpson Strzelecki Dunefields (SSD), Stony Plains (STP), Tasmanian Central Highlands (TCH), Tasmanian Northern Midlands (TNM), Tasmanian Northern Slopes (TNS), Tasmanian South East (TSE), Tasmanian Southern Ranges (TSR), Tasmanian West (TWE), Victorian Midlands (VM), Victorian Volcanic Plain (VVP) ; WA: Avon Wheatbelt (AW), Carnarvon (CAR), Coolgardie (COO), Esperance Plains (ESP), Geraldton Sandplains (GS), Hampton (HAM), Jarrah Forest (JF), Mallee (MAL), Murchison (MUR), Nullarbor (NUL), Swan Coastal Plain (SWA), Warren (WAR), Yalgoo (YAL)

General References

Dickinson, E.C. & Remsen Jr, J.V. (eds) 2013. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World 4th. edition Vol. 1. Non-passerines. Eastbourne : Aves Press pp.461.

Gonzalez, J., Düttmann, H. & Wink, M 2009. Phylogenetic relationships based on two mitochondrial genes and hybridization patterns in Anatidae. Journal of Zoology, London 279: 310-318

Livezey, B.C. 1995. Phylogeny and comparative ecology of stiff-tailed ducks (Anatidae: Oxyurini). Wilson Bulletin 107: 214-234

McCracken, K.G., Harshman, J., McClellan, D.A. &Afton, A.D. 1999. Data set incongruence and correlated character evolution: an example of functional convergence in the hind-limbs of Stifftail Diving Ducks. Systematic Biology 48(4): 693-714

History of changes