The white-cheeked pintail (Anas bahamensis), also known as the Bahama pintail, Bahama duck, or Galápagos duck is a species of dabbling duck that is patchily distributed throughout South America and the Caribbean. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae under its current scientific name.

Taxonomy

The white-cheeked pintail was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the current binomial name Anas bahamensis. Linnaeus based his account on the "Ilathera duck" that had been described and illustrated by the English naturalist Mark Catesby in the first volume of his book The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands that was published between 1729 and 1732.

Three subspecies are accepted:

  • A. b. bahamensis Linnaeus, 1758 – West Indies and north South America
  • A. b. rubrirostris Vieillot, 1816 – south Ecuador and south Brazil to north Argentina and north Chile
  • A. b. galapagensis (Ridgway, 1890) – Galápagos Islands

The subspecies differ mainly in size, with A. b. bahamensis being smaller (male weight 474–533 g, female 505–633 g) and A. b. rubrirostris larger (male 710 g, female 670 g). A. b. galapagensis is the smallest subspecies, and also has the dullest plumage. and small creatures (such as insects and small aquatic invertebrates)

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File:Galapagos white-cheeked pintail duck -Santa Cruz highlands.jpg|A. b. galapagensis, Santa Cruz, Galápagos Islands

File:Anas bahamensis galapagensis Baltra 1.jpg|A. b. galapagensis on Baltra, Galápagos, showing the green speculum

File:Anas bahamensis rubrirostris, Parque Lago, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina 453072007.jpg|A. b. rubrirostris, Parque Lago, Buenos Aires, Argentina

File:White-cheeked pintails on St Thomas.jpg|A. b. bahamensis with 9 ducklings, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

File:Bubali Plas Aruba (WoA) 3.jpg|A. b. bahamensis on Aruba

File:Anas bahamensis -Santa Cruz highlands.jpg|A. b. galapagensis, adult on left with red at the base of its beak and a juvenile with an all black bill on the right

File:White-cheeked Pintail in pond.JPG|A. b. galapagensis in the Galápagos Islands

File:White-cheeked Pintail white morph RWD.jpg|Captive, 'silver' breed

</gallery>

Notes

References

  • White-cheeked pintail videos, photos, and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection