Goldeneye (duck)

Bucephala is a genus of diving ducks found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Goldeneye
Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Anseriformes
Family:	Anatidae
Subfamily:	Merginae
Genus:	Bucephala S.F. Baird, 1858
Type species
Anas albeola (bufflehead) Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Bucephala albeola Bucephala clangula Bucephala islandica
Synonyms
Glaucionetta Charitonetta see text

Taxonomy

The genus Bucephala was introduced in 1858 by American naturalist Spencer Baird with the bufflehead as the type species.^[1][2] The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek βουκέφαλος bouképhalos, meaning 'bullheaded', from boûs 'bull', and kephalḗ, 'head', a reference to the crest of the bufflehead making its head look large.^[3]

The bufflehead was formerly treated as the only member of the genus (sometimes unnecessarily changed to Charitonetta) while the goldeneyes were incorrectly placed in Clangula (as Clangula americana), the genus of the long-tailed duck, which at that time was placed in Harelda.^[4] It may yet be correct to recognise two genera, as the bufflehead and the two goldeneyes are well diverged. In this case, Bucephala would be restricted to B. albeola and the name Glaucionetta (Stejneger, 1885) resurrected for the goldeneyes.

Species

The three living species are:^[5]

Genus Bucephala – S.F. Baird, 1858 – three species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Common goldeneye Male Female	Bucephala clangula (Linnaeus, 1758) Two subspecies B. c. clangula (Linnaeus, 1758) B. c. americana (Bonaparte, 1838)	Widespread in North America and Eurasia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Barrow's goldeneye Male Female	Bucephala islandica (Gmelin, JF, 1789)	North America and Iceland	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Bufflehead Male Female	Bucephala albeola (Linnaeus, 1758)	North America south to Mexico	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC

Goldeneye

Known fossil taxa are:

• Bucephala cereti (Sajóvölgyi Middle Miocene of Mátraszõlõs, Hungary - Late Pliocene of Chilhac, France)^[6]
• Bucephala ossivalis (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Bone Valley, United States),^[7] which was very similar to the common goldeneye and may even have been a paleosubspecies or direct ancestor^{[citation needed]}
• Bucephala angustipes (Early Pleistocene of central Europe)^[8]
• Bucephala sp. (Early Pleistocene of Dursunlu, Turkey)^[9]

Bucephala fossilis (Late Pleistocene of California, United States) is now considered an extinct subspecies of the Bufflehead.^[10]