A NEW SPECIES OF SMALL FLIGHTLESS DUCK FROM AMSTERDAM ISLAND, SOUTHERN INDIAN-OCEAN (ANATIDAE, ANAS)

The islands of Amsterdam and St. Paul each appear to have been inhabit ed by endemic populations of ducks that were exterminated by humans or human-introduced mammals in the past two hundred years. The duck from St. Paul is known only from a historical account in 1793. Abundant bo ne remains of a duck from Amsterdam Island are described as a new spec ies, Anas marecula. This was a small, teal-sized species with very red uced wings and pectoral girdle, so that it was certainly flightless. T he short, pointed bill suggests a possible derivation of the species f rom an ancestor related to the widgeons formerly segregated in the gen us Mareca.