Editing Pygmy goose (section)

{{short description|Genus of birds}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Pygmy geese
| image = GreenPigmyGoose.PNG
| image_caption = Green pygmy goose
| taxon = Nettapus
| authority = [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt|Brandt]], 1836
| type_species = ''[[African pygmy goose|Anas madagascariensis]]''<ref name=HM4>{{cite web |url= https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=14 |title= Anatidae |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= aviansystematics.org |publisher= The Trust for Avian Systematics |access-date= 2023-08-05}}</ref> = ''Anas aurita''
| type_species_authority = Gmelin, 1789
| display_parents = 3
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = *''[[Green pygmy goose|Nettapus pulchellus]]''
*''[[Cotton pygmy goose|Nettapus coromandelianus]]''
*''[[African pygmy goose|Nettapus auritus]]''
| range_map = Nettapus map.svg
| range_map_caption = Distribution
{{leftlegend|000080|''N. auritus''}}
{{leftlegend|008000|''N. c. coromandelianus''}}
{{leftlegend|008080|''N. c. albipennis''}}
{{leftlegend|ffff80|''N. pulchellus''}}
}}

'''Pygmy geese''' are a group of very small "[[perching duck]]s" in the [[genus]] '''''Nettapus''''' which breed in the Old World tropics. They are the smallest of all [[Anseriformes|wildfowl]]. As the "perching ducks" are a [[paraphyletic]] group,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Livezey |first=Bradley C. |year=1986 |title=A phylogenetic analysis of recent anseriform genera using morphological characters |journal=[[Auk (journal)|Auk]] |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=737–754 |url=http://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v103n04/p0737-p0754.pdf |format=Full text}}
</ref> they need to be placed elsewhere. The initially assumed relationship with the [[dabbling duck]] [[subfamily]] Anatinae{{Citation needed|date=February 2007}} has been questioned, and it appears they form a lineage in an ancient [[Gondwana]]n radiation of waterfowl, within which they are of unclear affinities.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sraml |first=M. |last2=Christidis |first2 = L. |last3 = Easteal | first3 = S. | last4 = Horn | first4 = P. |last5 = Collet |first5 = C. |year=1996 |title=Molecular Relationships Within Australasian Waterfowl (Anseriformes) |journal=Australian Journal of Zoology |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=47–58 |doi=10.1071/ZO9960047}}</ref> An undescribed fossil species from the late Hemphillian (5.0–4.1 mya) of [[Jalisco]], central [[Mexico]], has also been identified from the distal end of a tarsometatarsus. It is only record of the genus in the New World.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Steadman |first=D. |author2=Carranza-Castaneda, O.  |year=2006 |title=Early Pliocene to early Pleistocene birds from central Mexico |journal=[[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México]], Instituto de Geología and Centro de Geociencias, Publicacion Especial |volume=4 |pages=61–71 | isbn = 970-32-3895-5}}</ref>

The genus ''Nettapus'' was erected by the German naturalist [[Johann Friedrich von Brandt]] in 1836.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Brandt | first=Johann Friedrich von | author-link=Johann Friedrich von Brandt | year=1836 | title=Descriptiones et icones animalium rossicorum novorum vel minus rite cognitorum | volume=Fasciculus 1: Aves | language=la | publisher=Jussu et sumptibus Academiae Scientiarum | page=5 | url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/53584280 }}</ref> The name is from [[Ancient Greek]] ''nētta'' meaning "duck" and ''pous'' meaning "foot". It was thought that the [[type species]], the [[African pygmy goose]] (''Nettapus auritus''), possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url=https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn= 978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=[https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n269 269] }}</ref>

There are three [[extant taxon|extant]] species in the genus:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | year=2017 | title=Screamers, ducks, geese & swans | work=World Bird List Version 7.3 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/waterfowl/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=7 November 2017 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Image !! Scientific name !! Common Name!! Distribution
|-
|[[File:African pygmy goose, Nettapus auritus, at Muirhead Dams, Royal Macadamia Plantations, Machado, Limpopo, South Africa - male (26144126211).jpg|120px]] || ''Nettapus auritus'' || [[African pygmy goose]] ||  [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]
|-
|[[File:Cotton Pgymy Goose I2- Kolkata IMG 4808.jpg|120px]] || ''Nettapus coromandelianus'' || [[Cotton pygmy goose]] ||  northern Australasia and [[Southeast Asia]]
|-
|[[File:Green Pygmy Goose 3009.jpg|120px]] || ''Nettapus pulchellus'' || [[Green pygmy goose]] ||   northern [[Australia]] and southern [[New Guinea]]
|-
|}

Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes.