Vegavis is a
genus of extinct
bird that lived during the
Late Cretaceous (
Maastrichtian stage) of
Antarctica, some 68 to 66
mya. It belonged to the
clade Anseriformes. Among modern birds,
Vegavis is most closely related to
ducks and
geese (
Anatidae), but it is not considered to be a direct ancestor of them. The genus name,
Vegavis, is a combination of the name of Vega Island and "avis", the Latin word for bird. The species name, "iaai", is after the
acronym for Instituto Antartico Argentino (IAA), the Argentine scientific expedition to Antarctica.