Anas chlorotis peculiaris Mathews, 1937
South Island brown teal
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Elasmonetta chlorotis peculiaris Mathews, 1937
The North and South Island brown teals have never been formally described as separate taxa (source). However, Southey and Mitchmough (2000) found that birds from the North Island were closer to those from the Chatham Islands, with birds from the south of the South Island being an outgroup. The single known preserved specimen from the north of the South Island is different again, though whether it is typical of birds from that location is not know given the miniscule sample size. Thus Anas chlorotis may actually be a complex of cryptic*, or nearly cryptic, subspecies.
*Here 'cryptic' refers to the similarity of the phenotypes of the putatively different Brown teals, and not their elusiveness.
Conservation Status
Missing
Last record: 1990's
Distribution
South Island, New Zealand
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Mathews, Gregory M. (1937). Notes on New Zealand Ducks. The Emu 37: 31-32.
Other references:
Cole, Theresa L. and Wood, Jamie R. (2017). Hybridisation in the last remaining individuals of the extinct Fiordland population of Brown Teal (Anas chlorotis). Records of the Canterbury Museum 31: 159-165.
Robertson, H. A., Baird, K. A., Elliott, G. P., Hitchmough, R. A., McArthur, N. J., Makan, T. D., Miskelly, Colin M., O’Donnell, C. F. J., Sagar, P. M., Scofield, R. P., Taylor, G. A. and Michel, P. (2021). Conservation status of birds in Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 36. Department of Conservation, Wellington. 43 pp.
Southey, I. and Hitchmough, R. (2000). Morphological variation in New Zealand brown teal (Anas chlorotis). Conservation Advisory Science Notes No. 325, Department of Conservation, Wellington.
Worthy, T. H. and Holdaway, R. N. (1994). Quaternary fossil faunas from caves in Takaka Valley and on Takaka Hill, northwest Nelson, South Island, New Zealand. Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand 24(3): 297-391.
Worthy, Trevor H. and Zhao, J. X. (2006). A late Pleistocene predator-accumulated avifauna from Kids Cave, West Coast, South Island, New Zealand. Alcheringa Special Issue 1: 389-408.
http://article.wn.com/view/2013/11/15/Rarer_pateke_all_but_extinct/#/related_news
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/9402831/Rarer-pateke-all-but-extinct