Spatula (genus)
Spatula is a genus or subgenus of ducks in the family Anatidae that includes the shovelers and some of the teals.
Taxonomy
The species now placed in this genus were formerly placed in the genus Anas. A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic. Based on this published phylogeny, the genus Anas was split into four monophyletic genera with ten species moved into the resurrected genus Spatula.The genus Spatula had originally been proposed by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1822. The type species is the northern shoveler. The name Spatula is the Latin for a "spoon" or "spatula".
Extant Species
The genus contains 10 species:| Image | Scientific name | Common Name | Distribution |
| S. querquedula | Garganey | Europe and western Asia | |
| S. puna | Puna teal | the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile, and extreme northwestern Argentina | |
| S. versicolor | Silver teal | southern Bolivia, southern Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands, and the Falkland Islands | |
| S. platalea | Red shoveler | from Tierra del Fuego northwards to Chile and most parts of Argentina, as well as to the Falkland Islands, and there are small isolated breeding populations in southern Peru. | |
| S. clypeata | Northern shoveler | northern areas of Europe and Asia and across most of North America |