Alopochen sirabensis Andrews, 1897
Madagascar shelduck, Lesser Madagascan sheldgoose
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Extinct
Last record: c.1400 (Goodman & Rakotozafy, 1997)
Distribution
Madagascar
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Andrews, C. W. (1897). On some fossil remains of carinate birds from central Madagascar. Ibis 7(3): 343-359. [Abstract]
Other references:
Brodkorb, Pierce. (1964). Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 2 (Anseriformes through Galliformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum, Biological Sciences 8: 195-335.
Goodman, S. M. (1999). Holocene bird subfossils from the sites of Ampasambazimba, Antsirabe and Ampoza, Madagascar:Changes in the avifauna of south central Madagascar over the past few millennia. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3071-3083. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.
Goodman, Steven M. and Rakotozafy, L. M. A. (1997). Subfossil birds from coastal sites in western and southwestern Madagascar: a paleoenvironmental reconstruction, pp. 257-279. In Goodman, S. M. and Patterson, B. D. (eds.). Natural Change and Human Impact in Madagascar. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Lambrecht, Kàlmàn. (1933). Handbuch der Palaeornithologie. Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin. 1024 pp.
Livezey, Bradley C. (1997). A phylogenetic classification of waterfowl (Aves: Anseriformes), including selected fossil species. Annals of Carnegie Museum 66: 455-494.
Nomenjanahary, Zafindratsaravelo B., Hansford, James P., Samonds, Karen E., Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa and Goodman, Steven M. (2022). Sexual dimorphism and interpopulation size variation in the extinct Malagasy waterbird Alopochen sirabensis (Anseriformes: Anatidae). Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 304(2): 115-124. https://doi.org/10.1127/njgpa/2022/1059
Rasolofomanana, Nadia, Ranivoharimanana, Lovasoa, Schwartz, Joshua, Lenczewski, Melissa and Samonds, Karen E. (2025). Factors influencing the preservation of subfossil vertebrates from Tsaramody, Madagascar and the potential role of hot springs. Madamines 1: 27 pp.
Rothschild, Lionel Walter. (1907). Extinct birds: an attempt to write in one volume a short account of those birds which have become extinct in historical times, that is within the last six or seven hundred years: to which are added a few which still exist, but are on the verge of extinction. London: Hutchinson & Co. XXIX + 243 pp. [p. 93]
Samonds, Karen E. et al. (2019). A new late Pleistocene subfossil site (Tsaramody, Sambaina basin, central Madagascar) with implications for the chronology of habitat and megafaunal community change on Madagascar’s Central Highlands. Journal of Quaternary Science 34(6): 379-392. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3096
Sayol, Ferran, Steinbauer, Manuel J., Blackburn, Tim M., Antonelli, Alexandre and Faurby, Søren. (2020). Anthropogenic extinctions conceal widespread evolution of flightlessness in birds. Science Advances 6(49): eabb6095. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abb6095 [Supplementary Material (Data File S1)]
Tyrberg, Tommy. (2009). Holocene avian extinctions, pp. 63-106. In: Turvey, Samuel T. (ed.). Holocene Extinctions. Oxford, UK & New York, USA: Oxford University Press. xii + 352 pp.
Young, H. Glyn, Tonge, Simon J. and Hume, Julian Pender. (1996). Review of Holocene wildfowl extinctions. Wildfowl 47: 167-181.
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7835/alopochen-sirabensis-madagascar-shelduck