Spatula is a genus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the shovelers, garganey, and several species of teals.
Taxonomy
The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus
Anas. Molecular phylogenetic studies comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 1999 and 2009 found that the genus
Anas, as then defined, was not
Monophyly.
Based on this published phylogeny, the genus
Anas was split into four monophyletic genera, with ten species moved into the resurrected genus
Spatula.
The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler.
Extant species
The genus contains ten species.
[ The four larger species with large bills are known as shovelers, while the smaller species are mostly called teals.
]
Phylogeny
Cladogram based on the analysis of Johnson & Sorenson in 1999,[
]
