The velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca) is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic west of the Yenisey basin. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek "black" and "duck". The species name is from the Latin "dusky brown".

Taxonomy

The velvet scoter was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas fusca. Linnaeus specified the type locality as European seas but restricted this to the Swedish coast in 1761. The velvet scoter is now one of six species placed in the genus Melanitta that was introduced in 1822 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek meaning "black" and meaning "duck". The specific epithet fusca is from Latin meaning "dusky", "black" or "brown". The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

Lake Tabatskuri in the region of Samtskhe–Javakheti, Georgia, holds the last breeding population of velvet scoters in the Caucasus. Studies into this population in 2017–2018 found 25–35 pairs at the lake, with substantially fewer nesting. Competition for nesting locations, predation on velvet scoters by gulls, and disturbance by fishing activities were identified as contributing factors to reproductivity rates that were considered as "poor".

References

Sources

  • Velvet Scoter, RSPB