The mallard or wild duck is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa, and has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have purple patches on their wings, while the females have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.7–1.6 kg (1.5–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes. This species is the main ancestor of most breeds of domestic ducks. Source: Wikipedia
Citation:
Linnaeus, C 1758
Reference:
Systema Naturae ed. 10
1 p.125
Protonym:
Anas platyrhynchos
Type locality:
Europe; restricted to Sweden by Linnaeus, 1761, Fauna Svecica, ed. 2, p. 42.
Link:
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/10277#page/143/mode/1up
Avibase ID:
F2D07CBA227841F4
Avibase ID:
avibase-F2D07CBA
Short link:
https://avibase.ca/F2D07CBA
Taxonomic Serial Number:
TSN: 175063
Geographic range:
Authorities recognizing this taxonomic concept:
Avibase taxonomic concepts (current): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 2023 (May 2023): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 2024 (Oct 2024): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 06 (Feb 2018): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 07 (Feb 2020): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Avibase taxonomic concepts v. 08 (Feb 2021): Mallard [incl. oustaleti] ( Anas platyrhynchos [incl. oustaleti]) |
Taxonomic status:
Species status: species (alt)
This taxon is a subspecies of
Anas [platyrhynchos or diazi, incl. oustaleti]
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Other synonyms
See also the taxonomic synonyms table.
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