Editing Mergellus (section)

{{Short description|Genus of duck}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Male Smew on the pond.jpg
| image_caption = [[Smew]] ''(Mergellus albellus)''
| taxon = Mergellus
| authority = [[Prideaux John Selby|Selby]], 1840
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
*''[[Mergellus albellus]]''
*†''[[Mergellus mochanovi]]''
}}

'''''Mergellus''''' is a genus of duck. The [[smew]] ''(Mergellus albellus)'' is the only living species, but an extinct species known as ''[[Mergellus mochanovi]]'' has also been described from [[Late Pleistocene]] deposits in the [[Sakha Republic|Yakutia]] region of [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zelenkov |first1=N. |title=Two New Waterfowl Species (Aves: Anseriformes) from the Upper Pleistocene of Yakutia: The First Extinct Species of Quaternary Birds from Russia |journal=Paleontological Journal |date=2014 |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=645–654 |doi=10.1134/S0031030114060161 |bibcode=2014PalJ...48..645Z |s2cid=85286257 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268143312}}</ref>

An unnamed [[fossil]] seaduck, known from a [[humerus]] found in the [[Middle Miocene]] Sajóvölgyi Formation (Late [[Badenian]], 13–12 [[million years ago]]) of [[Hungary]] was assigned to ''Mergus''.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Erika, G. |author2=János, H. |author3=Eugen, K. |author4=József, K. |author5=Lukács, M. |author6=Márton, V. |title= The Middle Miocene fossils of Mátraszőlős 1. (a short synopsis) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270506958_The_Middle_Miocene_fossils_of_Matraszolos_1_a_short_synopsis |journal= Nógrád Megyei Múzeumok Évkönyve |date=1999|volume=23|pages=41-48}}</ref> However, the authors included the smew therein, and consequently, the bone is more properly assigned to ''Mergellus''—especially as it was more similar to a smew's than to the ''Bucephala'' remains also found at the site.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}} It is sometimes argued<ref>{{cite book |last=Mlíkovský |first=Jiří  |year=2002 |title=Cenozoic Birds of the World, Part 1: Europe |publisher=Ninox Press |location=Prague |id={{Listed Invalid ISBN |80-901105-3-8}} |url=http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411215341/http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf|archive-date=11 April 2016 |page=123}}</ref> that the Mátraszõlõs fossil is too old to represent any of the modern seaduck genera, but apparently these were all well-distinct even back then.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gál |first=Erika |author2=Hír, János |author3=Kessler, Eugén |author4=Kókay, József |date=1998–99 |title=Középsõ-miocén õsmaradványok, a Mátraszõlõs, Rákóczi-kápolna alatti útbevágásból. I. A Mátraszõlõs 1. lelõhely |trans-title=Middle Miocene fossils from the sections at the Rákóczi chapel at Mátraszőlős. Locality Mátraszõlõs I. |journal=Folia Historico Naturalia Musei Matraensis |volume=23 |pages=33–78 |language=Hungarian, English |url=http://www.matramuzeum.hu/Personal/folia/23/03MATSZOLOS.PDF |access-date=2008-08-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721111701/http://www.matramuzeum.hu/Personal/folia/23/03MATSZOLOS.PDF |archive-date=2011-07-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>