Anserinae

Taxobox
name = "Anserinae"

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image_width = 200px
image_caption = A Swan Goose ("Anser cygnoides")
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Anseriformes
familia = Anatidae
subfamilia = "Anserinae"
subfamilia_authority = Vigors, 1825
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = see text
synonyms =Cygninae

The Anserinae is a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It includes the swans and true geese. Under alternative systematical concepts (see e.g. Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae containing the geese (and also the whistling-ducks), while the Cygninae contain the swans.

A number of other waterbirds, mainly related to the shelducks, have "goose" as part of their name; see the family page at Anatidae and the goose page for these.

ystematics

Swans - tribe Cygnini
*Genus "Cygnus" - true swans:The black-and-yellow-billed swans are sometimes separated in the genus "Olor".

True Geese - tribe Anserini
*Genus "Anser" - grey geese
*Genus "Chen" - white geese (sometimes merged into "Anser")
*Genus "Branta" - black geese

Unresolved
*Genus "Coscoroba" - Coscoroba Swan

The following two genera are distinct from other geese and often elevated to a subfamily of its own (Cereopsinae), or alternatively into the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae:

Tribe Cereopsini
*Genus "Cereopsis" - Cape Barren Goose
*Genus "Cnemiornis" - New Zealand geese (prehistoric)

There are some enigmatic subfossils of very large goose-like birds from the Hawaiian Islands which do not appear to be moa-nalos (goose-sized dabbling ducks). They cannot be assigned to any genus living today, though most if not all may be fairly close to "Branta":
* Wetmore's Goose, "Geochen rhuax" - initially alied with "Cereopsis", but this seems hardly correct for reasons of biogeography.
* Giant Hawaiʻi Goose, ?"Branta" sp.
* Giant Oʻahu Goose, Anatidae sp. et gen. indet.

References

* Terres, John K. & National Audubon Society (1991): "The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds". Wings Books, New York. ISBN 0-517-03288-0