Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus, 1758)

Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile & Geraads, Denis, 2010, The Upper Pliocene Avifauna of Ahl al Oughlam, Morocco. Systematics and Biogeography, Records of the Australian Museum 62 (1), pp. 157-184 : 167

Tadorna tadorna (Linnaeus, 1758)

Material. Right humeri, shaft and distal part, AaO-748, distal part, AaO-751; left carpometacarpus, almost complete, AaO-2658 (the alular metacarpal is missing).

Measurements. See Table 5.

The measurements of the distal humeri have been compared with those of the other species of the genus Tadorna from the USNM collection. They are smaller than those of T. ferruginea , T. variegata , T. tadornoides , T. cana , and larger than those of T. radjah . They are included in the variation range of the Recent T. tadorna , the Common Shelduck.

At the present time, the Common Shelduck breeds in Central Asia and on the European coasts, and winters in Southern China, Pakistan, India, Iran, Afghanistan, on the European Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and in North Africa. It still winters in Morocco (del Hoyo et al., 1992).

The Common Shelduck has been recorded from the Early Pleistocene, at Ubeidiya’, in Israel (1.4 Ma), and Betfia, in Romania (1 Ma) ( Tyrberg, 1998).