Anserinae Temporal range: Middle Miocene to present |
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Domestic geese | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Subfamily: |
Anserinae Vigors, 1825 |
Genera | |
see text |
|
Synonyms | |
Cygninae |
see text
Cygninae
The Anserinae are a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It includes the swans and true geese. Under alternative systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae contain the geese and the ducks, while the Cygninae contain the swans.
True geese – tribe Anserini
Unresolved
These two genera are distinct from other geese and often elevated to a subfamily of their own (Cereopsinae), or alternatively into the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae:
Tribe Cereopsini
Some enigmatic subfossils of very large goose-like birds from the Hawaiian Islands do not appear to be moa-nalos (goose-sized dabbling ducks). They cannot be assigned to any genus living today, though most, if not all, may be fairly close to Branta: