The Puna teal is resident in the Andes of Peru, western Bolivia, northern Chile, and extreme northwestern Argentina.

[4] A molecular phylogentic study comparing mitochondrial DNA sequences published in 2009 found that the genus Anas, as then defined, was non-monophyletic.

[9] The Puna teal is 19 inches (480 mm) long, similar in size to a wood duck.

Their upper tail coverts are gray, and their rear flanks are dark brown with thin stripes.

In the wild they live in small groups of their own kind or with the closely related silver teal.