Hooded merganser

Hooded merganser
Male
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Anseriformes
Family: Anatidae
Genus: Lophodytes
Reichenbach, 1853
Species:
L. cucullatus
Binomial name
Lophodytes cucullatus
Range of Lophodytes cucullatus
Synonyms
  • Mergus cucullatus Linnaeus, 1758

The hooded merganser (Lophodytes cucullatus) is a species of fish-eating duck in the subfamily Anatinae. It is the only extant species in the genus Lophodytes. The genus name derives from the Greek language: lophos meaning 'crest', and dutes meaning 'diver'.[2] The bird is striking in appearance; both sexes have crests that they can raise or lower, and the breeding plumage of the male is handsomely patterned and coloured. The hooded merganser has a sawbill but is not classified as a typical merganser.

Hooded mergansers are the second-smallest species of merganser, with only the smew of Europe and Asia being smaller, and it also is the only merganser whose native habitat is restricted to North America.

A species of fossil merganser from the Late Pleistocene of Vero Beach, Florida, was described as Querquedula floridana (a genus now included in Anas), but upon reexamination turned out to be a species closely related to the hooded merganser; it is now named Lophodytes floridanus, but the exact relationship between this bird and the modern species is unknown.

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Lophodytes cucullatus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22680472A92863561. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680472A92863561.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Johnsgard, Paul. "Waterfowl of North America: Name Derivations". Digital Commons. University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Retrieved 25 February 2017.