Goose barnacle migrate, it was thought that barnacle geese, "Branta leucopsis", developed from this crustacean, since they were never seen to nest in temperate Europe, hence the English names "goose barnacle", "barnacle goose" and the scientific name "Lepas anserifera" (, "goose"). The confusion was prompted by the similarities in colour and shape. Because they were often found on driftwood, it was assumed that the barnacles were attached to branches before they fell in the water. The archdeacon of Brecon, Gerald of Wales, made this claim in his "Topographia Hiberniae". Since barnacle geese were thought to be "neither flesh, nor born of flesh",
Pygmy goose end of a tarsometatarsus. It is only record of the genus in the New World. The genus "Nettapus" was erected by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich von Brandt in 1836. The word "Nettapus" is from the Ancient Greek "nētta" "duck" and "pous" "foot". It was thought that the type species, the African pygmy goose ("Nettapus auritus"), possessed the feet and body of a duck and the neck of a goose. There are three extant species in the genus: Pygmy geese have short bills, rounded heads and short legs. They nest in tree holes. Pygmy goose The pygmy geese are a