Lesser White-fronted Goose

About the Lesser White-fronted Goose

The lesser white-fronted goose (Anser erythropus) is a goose closely related to the larger greater white-fronted goose (A. albifrons). It breeds in the northernmost Palearctic, but it is a scarce breeder in Europe, with a reintroduction attempt in Fennoscandia.

The lesser white-fronted goose was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas erythropus. Linnaeus specified the type location as northern Europe but this was restricted to northern Sweden in 1913. The lesser white-fronted goose is now one of 11 species placed in the genus Anser that was introduced by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760. The specific epithet comes from anser, the Latin for "goose", and erythropus, "red-footed", derived from the old Greek eruthros "red" and pous "foot". The species is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. The lesser white-fronted goose is closely related to the greater white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons).

The lesser white-fronted goose winters further south in Europe and is a rare winter vagrant to Great Britain and India. Individual... Wikipedia →