Common shelduck | |
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Breeding male | |
Adult female | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Anseriformes |
Family: | Anatidae |
Genus: | Tadorna |
Species: | T. tadorna
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Binomial name | |
Tadorna tadorna | |
Range of T. tadorna (Compiled by BirdLife International and Handbook of the Birds of the World (2019) 2019.) Breeding Resident Non-breeding
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Synonyms | |
Anas tadorna Linnaeus, 1758 |
The common shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) is a waterfowl species of the shelduck genus, Tadorna. It is widespread and common in the Euro-Siberian region of the Palearctic, mainly breeding in temperate and wintering in subtropical regions; in winter, it can also be found in the Maghreb.
Fossil bones from Dorkovo (Bulgaria) described as Balcanas pliocaenica may actually belong to this species. More likely, they are an extinct species of Tadorna (if not a distinct genus) due to their Early Pliocene age; the present species is not unequivocally attested from the fossil record until some 2–3 million years later (Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene).