Anserinae

The Anserinae are a subfamily in the waterfowl family Anatidae. It includes the swans and true geese. Under alternative systematical concepts (see e.g., Terres & NAS, 1991), it is split into two subfamilies, the Anserinae contain the geese and the ducks, while the Cygninae contain the swans. Swans (Tribe Cygnini) Genus Cygnus – true swans: The black-and-yellow-billed swans are sometimes separated in the genus Olor. Genus †Afrocygnus (Miocene of North Africa) Genus †Annakacygna – short-winged swans (Miocene of Japan) Genus †Megalodytes (Miocene of Japan and California) True geese (Tribe Anserini) Genus Anser – grey and white geese Genus Branta – black geese Unresolved Genus Coscoroba – coscoroba swan These two genera are distinct from other geese and often elevated to a subfamily of their own (Cereopsinae), or alternatively into the shelduck subfamily Tadorninae: Tribe Cereopseini Genus Cereopsis – Cape Barren goose Genus †Cnemiornis – New Zealand geese (prehistoric) Some enigmatic subfossils of very large goose-like birds from the Hawaiian Islands do not appear to be moa-nalos (goose-sized dabbling ducks). They cannot be assigned to any genus living today, though most, if not all, may be fairly close to Branta: Geochen rhuax – initially allied with Cereopsis, but this seems hardly correct for reasons of biogeography. Giant Hawaiʻi goose, ?Branta sp. Giant Oʻahu goose, Anatidae sp. et gen. indet.