Velvet Scoter

About the Velvet Scoter

The velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca) is a large sea duck, which breeds over the far north of Europe and the Palearctic west of the Yenisey basin. The genus name is derived from Ancient Greek melas "black" and netta "duck". The species name is from the Latin fuscus "dusky brown".

The velvet scoter was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Anas fusca. Linnaeus specified the type locality as European seas but restricted this to the Swedish coast in 1761. The velvet scoter is now one of six species placed in the genus Melanitta that was introduced in 1822 by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek melas meaning "black" and netta meaning "duck". The specific epithet fusca is from Latin fuscus meaning "dusky", "black" or "brown". The species is considered to be monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The velvet scooter was formerly considered to be conspecific with the white-winged scoter (Melanitta deglandi) of North America and Stejneger's scoter (Melanitta stejnegeri) of eastern Siberia and northwest Mongolia. The velvet... Wikipedia →