Flying Steamer-Duck

SCI Name:  Tachyeres patachonicus
Protonym:  Oidemia Patachonica Proc.Zool.Soc.London Pt1 no.1 p.14
Taxonomy:  Anseriformes / Anatidae / Tachyeres
Taxonomy Code:  flystd1
Type Locality:  Strait of Magellan.
Author:  King, PP
Publish Year:  1831
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

TACHYERES
(Anatidae; Ϯ Falkland Flightless Steamer Duck T. brachypterus) Gr. ταχυηρης takhuērēs  fast rowing  < ταχυς takhus  fast; ερσσω eressō  to row; "the flightless Duck (Tachyeres² brachypterus, Latham) of Magellan's Strait.   ...   ²The generic name Micropterus, applied by Lesson in 1831 to the Anas brachyptera of Latham, was bespoken by Lacépède, in 1802, for a genus of Fishes. Microptera was applied by Gravenhorst, in the same year, to a family of pentamerous Coleoptera, and by Robin, in 1830, to a genus of Diptera. Micropteryx was given by Hübner, in 1816, to a genus of Lepidoptera, and by Agassiz, in 1829, to a genus of Fishes. The name above proposed for a subgeneric type of Anatidæ, as well-marked as any of those to which terms indicative of such distinction have been applied, is derived from ταχυηρης, swift rower, and relates to the characteristic movements of Latham's species in water, which has obtained for it, from navigators, the name of "Steamer Duck." (Owen 1875); "Tachyeres Owen, Trans. Zoöl. Soc. London, 9, 1875, p. 254. Type, by monotypy, Anas brachyptera Latham." (Peters 1931, I, 176).
Synon. Microa, Micropterus.

patachonica / patachonicus
Patagonia, Argentina. When Magellan wintered on the coast of Patagonia in 1520 he traded with Amerindians, probably the Tehuelche who wore animal skins on their feet, whom he called Patagones big-footed, the name gradually attaching itself to the area.
● "59.  A gigantic species of Duck, the largest I have met with.  ...  The bird is a Patagonian in stature, according, at least, to the generally received signification of the word, as well as in station; and well deserves the name of  OIDEMIA PATACHONICA." (P. P. King 1828) (Tachyeres).