Freckled Duck (Stictonetta naevosa) Fact Sheet: Taxonomy & History

Taxonomy

• Order Anseriformes (ducks, geese, swans, screamers, Magpie Goose) (Sun et al. 2017)
  • More than 150 species
  • Taxonomic families
    • Anatidae
      • Geese, ducks, and swans
        • More than 100 species
    • Dendrocydnidae
      • Whistling Ducks
        • About 10 species
    • Anhimidae
      • Screamers
        • Three species
    • Anseranatidae
      • Magpie Goose
        • One species
• Freckled Duck, Stictonetta naevosa (Gould, 1841)
  • No subspecies recognized (Johnsgard 2010)

Nomenclature

(Marchant and Higgins 1990; Lederer and Burr 2014)

• Genus: Stictonetta (stik-toe-NET-ta)
  • From Greek
    • stiktos, meaning spotted or dotted
    • netta, meaning duck
• Species: S. naevosa (nee-VO-sa)
  • From Latin
    • naevus, meaning spot or spotted

Synonyms

• Anas naevosa (Carboneras and Kirwan 2018; UNEP 2018)

Common names

(Carboneras and Kirwan 2018; UNEP 2018)

• Freckled Duck (English)
• Stictonette tachetée (French)
• Affengans (German)
• Pato pecoso (Spanish)

Other colloquial or local names

• Oatmeal duck, monkey duck, Diamantina duck, speckled duck (English) (Frith 1967; Marchant and Higgins 1990; Johnsgard 2010)
• Pünktchenente (German) (Johnsgard 2010)
• Canard moucheté (French) (Johnsgard 2010)
• Pato manchado (Spanish) (Johnsgard 2010)

Fossil history and evolutionary relationships

• Anatidae and Dendrocygnidae diverged about 35 Ma (Eocene) (Sun et al. 2017)
• Ducks (Anatidae)
  • Rapid and recent diversification, especially during Plio-Pleistocene (Sun et al. 2017)
• Stictonetta relatively basal in divergence compared to other ducks (Worthy and Lee 2008)

Close extant/living relatives

• Pink-eared Duck (Malacorhynchus membranaceus) (Worthy and Lee 2008)
• Stiff-tailed ducks (Oxyura) (Fullagar et al. 1990; Worthy and Lee 2008)

Culture and folklore

• Aboriginal cultures of Australia
  • Freckled Duck and other seasonal migrating birds caught by net by aboriginal hunters in the Lower Murray, South Australia (Berndt et al. 1993)
  • Historically at Point McLeay, boys forbidden from eating certain foods, including Freckled Duck, prior to initiation and for two years after initiation (Clarke 2017, citing G. Taplin, 1859-1879)

Books

• Children’s books
  • Freckled Duck as a supporting character in “Ugly” by Donna Jo Napoli (2006)
    • A retelling of “The Ugly Duckling” set in Tasmania
• Briefly mentioned in the “Rapture of the Living Lake” in The Divine Comedy (2008) by John Kinsella

Art

• Paintings
  • Anas naevosa by John Gould, The Birds of Australia (Gould 1848)

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Aves

Order: Anseriformes (Wagler, 1831) — ducks, geese, swans, screamers, waterfowl

Family: Anatidae — ducks, geese, swans

Genus: Stictonetta (Reichenbach, 1853)

Species: Stictonetta naevosa (Gould, 1841) — Freckled Duck

Sources: Carboneras and Kirwan (2018); Integrated Taxonomic Information System (2018)

An 1848 illustration of a Freckled Duck by John Gould.

Plate 10; by J. Gould. The Birds of Australia (Vol. 7), 1848. Biodiversity Heritage Library. Public domain.