Annakacygna is a genus of flightless marine swan from the Miocene of Japan. Named in 2022, Annakacygna displays a series of unique adaptations setting it apart from any other known swan, including a filter feeding lifestyle, a highly mobile tail and wings that likely formed a cradle for their hatchlings in a fashion similar to modern mute swans. Additionally, it may have used both wings and tail as a form of display. All of these traits combined have led the researchers working on it to dub it "the ultimate bird".[1] Two species are known, A. hajimei, which was approximately the size of a black swan, and A. yoshiiensis which exceeded the mute swan in both size and weight.[1][2] The describing authors proposed the vernacular name Annaka short-winged swan for the genus.
^ abMatsuoka H, Hasegawa Y (2022). "Annakacygna, a new genus for two remarkable flightless swans（Aves, Anatidae, Cygnini）from the Miocene of Gunma, central Japan: With a note on the birds' food niche shift and specialization of wings for parental care action" (PDF). Bulletin of Gunma Museum of Natural History. 26: 1–30.
^Watanabe, Junya (2017). "Quantitative discrimination of flightlessness in fossil Anatidae from skeletal proportions". The Auk. 134 (3): 672–695. doi:10.1642/AUK-17-23.1. hdl:2433/227150.
Annakacygna is a genus of flightless marine swan from the Miocene of Japan. Named in 2022, Annakacygna displays a series of unique adaptations setting...
Japan originally referred to Megalodytes is now referred to the genus Annakacygna Howard, H. (1992): New records of Middle Miocene anseriform birds from...
in the genus Olor. Genus †Afrocygnus (Miocene of North Africa) Genus †Annakacygna – short-winged swans (Miocene of Japan) Genus †Megalodytes (Miocene of...
1933; Anser cygniformis (Fraas 1870) Lambrecht 1933] Other genera † Annakacygna The supposed fossil swans "Cygnus" bilinicus and "Cygnus" herrenthalsi...
relatives of the family Gastornithidae. A study on the vertebral column of Annakacygna hajimei is published by Matsuoka, Seoka & Hasegawa (2024), who reconstruct...
edges, used to scope out small planktionic animals. The extinct swan Annakacygna is speculated to be a filter-feeder due to its bill proportions being...
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