Alopochen

Alopochen
	Egyptian goose
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Subfamily:	Tadorninae
Genus:	Alopochen; Stejneger, 1885
Synonyms
	Chenalopex Stephens 1824 non Vieillot 1818; Mascarenochen Cowles 1994; Proanser Umans'ka 1979a; Anserobranta Kuročkin & Ganya 1972;

Alopochen is a genus of the bird family Anatidae, part of the subfamily Tadorninae along with the shelducks. It contains one extant species, the Egyptian goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca), and two or three species which became extinct in the last 1000 years or so. The Egyptian goose is native to mainland Africa, and the extinct species are from Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands.

mtDNA cytochrome b sequence data suggest that the relationships of Alopochen to Tadorna need further investigation.^[3]

Species

Egyptian goose, Alopochen aegyptiaca

The extinct species of the genus are:

Malagasy shelduck or Madagascar shelduck, Alopochen sirabensis (Andrews 1897) (may be subspecies of A. mauritiana) – Madagascar, prehistoric: see Late Quaternary prehistoric birds
Mauritius sheldgoose, Alopochen mauritiana (Newton & Gadow 1893)– Mauritius, late 1690s
Réunion sheldgoose or Kervazo's Egyptian goose, Alopochen kervazoi (Cowles 1994) Mourer-Chauviré et al. 1999– Réunion, circa 1690s
Alopochen tarabukini (Kuročkin & Ganea) Mlíkovský 2002

The generic name looks like Greek ἀλώπηξ + χήν = "fox-goose", referring to the colour of its back, but with a Greek language error; the linguistically correct form would have been *Alopecchen or *Alopecochen.

References

^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
^ "Part 7- Vertebrates". Collection of genus-group names in a systematic arrangement. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
^ Sraml, M.; Christidis, L.; Easteal, S.; Horn, P.; Collet, C. (1996). "Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 44 (1): 47–58. doi:10.1071/ZO9960047.

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[1] Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.

[2] "Part 7- Vertebrates". Collection of genus-group names in a systematic arrangement. Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.

[3] Sraml, M.; Christidis, L.; Easteal, S.; Horn, P.; Collet, C. (1996). "Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes)". Australian Journal of Zoology. 44 (1): 47–58. doi:10.1071/ZO9960047.

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