The genus
Branta was introduced by the Austrian naturalist
Giovanni Antonio Scopoli in 1769. The name is a Latinised form of
Old Norse Brandgás meaning burnt as in "burnt (black) goose". The
type species is the
brant goose (
Branta bernicla). Ottenburghs and colleagues published a study in 2016 that established the phylogenetic relationships between the species. }}
Species list The genus contains six living
species. }} }} }} Two species have been described from
subfossil remains found in the Hawaiian Islands, where they became
extinct in prehistoric times: •
Nēnē-nui or wood-walking goose,
Branta hylobadistes (
prehistoric) :Similar but hitherto undescribed remains are also known from
Kauaʻi and
Oʻahu. •
Giant Hawaii goose,
Branta rhuax (
prehistoric), formerly
Geochen rhuax The relationships of the enigmatic
Geochen rhuax, formerly known only from parts of a single bird's skeleton which was damaged due to apparently dying in a
lava flow, were long unresolved. After reexamination of the subfossil material and comparisons with other subfossil bones from the island of Hawaii assigned to the genus
Branta, it was redescribed as
Branta rhuax in 2013. While a presumed relation between
B. rhuax and the
shelducks, proposed by Lester Short in 1970, has thus been refuted, bones of a shelduck-like bird have been found more recently on Kaua‘i. Similarly, two bones found on
Oʻahu indicate the erstwhile presence of a gigantic waterfowl on this island. Its relationships relative to this genus and those of the
moa-nalos, enormous goose-like
dabbling ducks, are completely undeterminable at present. •
Branta thessaliensis Boev & Koufos, 2006 (Late Miocene of Perivolaki, Greece) •
Branta dickeyi Miller 1924 (Late Pliocene – Late Pleistocene of Western U.S.) •
Branta esmeralda Burt 1929 (Early Pliocene of Nevada, U.S.) •
Branta howardae Miller 1930 (Early Pliocene of California, U.S.) •
Branta propinqua Shufeldt 1892 (Middle Pleistocene of
Fossil Lake, Oregon, U.S.) ==Footnotes==