The South Georgia Pintail (Anas georgica georgica), also misleadingly known as the South Georgian Teal, is the nominate subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Yellow-billed Pintail

Yellow-billed Pintail

The Yellow-billed Pintail is a South American dabbling duck of the genus Anas with three described subspecies.-Description:...

 (Anas georgica), a duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

 in the dabbling duck subfamily Anatinae

Anatinae

The Anatinae is a subfamily of the family Anatidae . Its surviving members are the dabbling ducks, which feed mainly at the surface rather than by diving...

. It is endemic to the large (3,756 km²) subantarctic

Subantarctic

The Subantarctic is a region in the southern hemisphere, located immediately north of the Antarctic region. This translates roughly to a latitude of between 46° – 60° south of the Equator. The subantarctic region includes many islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and...

 island of South Georgia and its accompanying archipelago

Archipelago

An archipelago , sometimes called an island group, is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi- and πέλαγος – pélagos through the Italian arcipelago...

, and is a vagrant to the South Sandwich Islands. It was among the birds noted by James Cook

James Cook

Captain James Cook, FRS, RN was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer who ultimately rose to the rank of captain in the Royal Navy...

 in January 1775, on the occasion of the first recorded landing on South Georgia, and was formerly considered a full species.
The duck has long been recognised as a distinct taxon, with its affinities previously considered to be with the teals.