Spatula (bird)

The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. A molecular phylogenetic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic.[2] Based on this published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with 10 species moved into the resurrected genus Spatula.[3]

The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler.[4][5] The name Spatula is the Latin word for "spoon", from which the English word "spatula" also originates.[6]

Extant species

The genus contains 10 species:[3]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Distribution
	S. querquedula	Garganey	Europe and western Asia
	S. hottentota	Blue-billed teal	eastern and southern Africa, from Sudan and Ethiopia west to Niger and Nigeria and south to South Africa and Namibia
	S. puna	Puna teal	the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile and extreme northwestern Argentina
	S. versicolor	Silver teal	southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the Falkland Islands
	S. platalea	Red shoveler	Tierra del Fuego northwards to Chile and most parts of Argentina, as well as the Falkland Islands and small isolated breeding populations in southern Peru
	S. cyanoptera	Cinnamon teal	South America, western United States and extreme southwestern Canada; a rare visitor to the East Coast of the United States
	S. discors	Blue-winged teal	North America, where it breeds from southern Alaska to Nova Scotia and south to northern Texas
	S. smithii	Cape shoveler	South Africa, uncommon further north in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique and Zambia
	S. rhynchotis	Australasian shoveler	Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand
	S. clypeata	Northern shoveler	northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America