Thirty-one species and subspecies consisting of 169 individuals of the Anatidae were tested with 10 enzyme loci by means of electrophoresis.
(1) Intra-specific genetic variation was found only in 6 species. The overall mean heterozygosity value was very low (H=0.003).
(2) The mean genetic distance (D) was 0.285 among 13 genera, and 0.016 among 31 species and subspecies examined. At species level, however, the distance was extremely low in 3 genera of the Anatinae (D=0.0001) as compared with 4 genera of the Anserinae (D=0.079).
(3) In the dendrogram from UPGMA, the Anatidae were divided into two groups, Anserinae and Anatinae. The genetic distance between the two subfamilies was 0.674, a value comparable
with the known values between other avian families.
(4) Cereopsis was included in the Anserinae, but with rather distant similarities with the other members of the subfamily.
(5) Alopochen and Tadorna, previously believed to be closely related, were considered genetically distant and are classified with the Anserinae and the Anatinae respectively.
(6) Generic grouping of species agreed with the current classification with a few exceptions.