Wood Duck

SCI Name:  Aix sponsa
Protonym:  Anas Sponsa Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.128
Taxonomy:  Anseriformes / Anatidae / Aix
Taxonomy Code:  wooduc
Type Locality:  North America = Carolina ex Catesby.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

AIX
(Anatidae; Ϯ Wood Duck A. sponsa) Gr. αιξ aix, αιγος aigos  large web-footed bird mentioned by Aristotle, not further identified, but since conjectured to be a small goose or a large duck. According to Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, and other authors this was also a name for the Lapwing Vanellus (cf. αιξ aix, αιγος aigos  goat); "Fam. Anatidae Leach.  ...  Gattung Aix. ³   Hierher aus Asien: 1. Anas galericulata Lin.  2. — falcaria Pall.   America: 3. Anas sponsa Lin. Wils. pl. 70. fig. 3.  ...  ³ Name eines Wasservogels bey Aristot." (Boie 1828); "Aix Boie, Isis, 21, 1828, p. 329. Type, by subsequent designation, Anas sponsa Linné. (Eyton, Monogr. Anat., 1838, p. 35.)" (Peters 1931, I, p. 170).
Var. Aex, Aia.
Synon. Dendronessa, Lampronessa.

sponsa
L. sponsa  bride  < spondere  to pledge.
● “Prettily applied to this lovely duck, as if the bird were arrayed for bridal” (Coues 1882); "61. ANAS.  ...  Sponsa.  37. A. crista dependente duplici viridi cæruleo alboque varia.  Anas cristatus elegans. Catesb. car. 1. p. 97. t. 97. Edw. av. 101. f. 101.  Anas fusca cristata, ad gulam alba, iride flammea. Brown. jam. 481.  Habitat in America septentrionali.  Crista dependens viridi alboque cærulea, uti & dorsum. Pectus griseum, albo maculatum. Gula alba." (Linnaeus 1758) (Aix).
● “This form is named in honor of my late wife, Gladys C. Banks, who assisted me throughout most of the long years of my study of variation in wintering white-fronted geese, and in other work. The name sponsa is a noun in apposition” (Banks 2011) (subsp. Anser albifrons).