The Key to Scientific Names
- TACHYERES
(Anatidae; Ϯ Falkland Steamer Duck T. brachypterus) Gr. ταχυηρης takhuērēs fast rowing < ταχυς takhus fast; ερσσω eressō to row; "the flightless Duck (Tachyeres2 brachypterus, Latham) of Magellan's Strait. ... 2The generic name Micropterus, applied by Lesson in 1831 to the Anas brachyptera of Latham, was bespoken by Lacépède, in 1802, for a genus of Fishes. Microptera was applied by Gravenhorst, in the same year, to a family of pentamerous Coleoptera, and by Robin, in 1830, to a genus of Diptera. Micropteryx was given by Hübner, in 1816, to a genus of Lepidoptera, and by Agassiz, in 1829, to a genus of Fishes. The name above proposed for a subgeneric type of Anatidæ, as well-marked as any of those to which terms indicative of such distinction have been applied, is derived from ταχυηρης, swift rower, and relates to the characteristic movements of Latham's species in water, which has obtained for it, from navigators, the name of "Steamer Duck." (Owen 1875); "Tachyeres Owen, 1875, Trans. Zoöl. Soc. London, IX, p. 254. New name for Micropterus Lesson, 1828, not of de Lacépède, 1802 (Pisces)." (JAJ 2021).
Synon. Microa, Micropterus.
