Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant

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Bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant
Eperonnier a queue bronzee dage 0g.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Polyplectron
Species:
P. chalcurum
Binomial name
Polyplectron chalcurum
Lesson, 1831
Subspecies
  • P. c. chalcurumLesson, 1831
    Southern bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant
  • P. c. scutulatumHoogerwerf, 1941
    Northern bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant
Synonyms

Chalcurus chalcurus

The bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron chalcurum) is also known as the Sumatran peacock-pheasant. It is an Indonesian bird.

Contents

Description

The bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant is a small, up to 56 cm long, dark brown pheasant with dark grey legs, rather small head and long, narrow tail of sixteen feathers. The tail feathers are chestnut brown with metallic purplish bars near tips. Both sexes are similar. The male has longer tail, two spurs on legs and yellow iris while the unspurred female's is dark brown.

Taxonomy and evolution

The bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant belongs to the family Phasianidae and the genus Polyplectron , which consists of seven peacock-pheasant species. There are two subspecies:

mtDNA cytochrome b and D-loop as well as the nuclear ovomucoid intron G data confirms that this species belongs to a clade together with the mountain peacock-pheasant, but also the mainland species Germain's peacock-pheasant and grey peacock-pheasant (Kimball et al. 2001).

The molecular data suggests - though not with high confidence - that this species diverged relatively recently from ancestral grey peacock-pheasants. This is quite spurious, since biogeography, its peculiarly derived plumage, and the fact that it is an insular mountain endemic indicate it is derived from a comparatively small founder population; this would confound molecular analyses. What seems clear is that the present species evolved from mainland Southeast Asian stock, probably during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene (3.6-1 mya [2] ). The loss of ocelli thus is, contrary to long-held opinion, an autapomorphy, and the southern species of this clade - formerly separated in the genus Chalcurus - are probably not each other's closest relatives.

Distribution and habitat

An Indonesian endemic, the bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant inhabits to mountain forests of west Sumatra.

Behaviour

As with other member in the genus, this elusive bird is shy and very wary. But unlike other peacock-pheasants, it has no ocelli.

Conservation

The bronze-tailed peacock-pheasant is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Related Research Articles

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Pheasants are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia. The classification "pheasant" is paraphyletic, as birds referred to as pheasants are included within both the subfamilies Phasianinae and Pavoninae, and in many cases are more closely related to smaller phasianids, grouse, and turkey than to other pheasants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galliformes</span> Order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phasianidae</span> Family of birds

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salvadori's pheasant</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palawan peacock-pheasant</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peacock-pheasant</span> Genus of birds

The peacock-pheasants are a bird genus, Polyplectron, of the family Phasianidae, consisting of eight species. They are colored inconspicuously, relying on heavily on crypsis to avoid detection. When threatened, peacock-pheasants will alter their shapes using specialised plumage that when expanded reveals numerous iridescent orbs. The birds also vibrate their plume quills further accentuating their aposematism. Peacock-pheasants exhibit well developed metatarsal spurs. Older individuals may have multiple spurs on each leg. These kicking thorns are used in self-defense.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bornean peacock-pheasant</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malayan peacock-pheasant</span> Species of bird

The Malayan peacock-pheasant also known as crested peacock-pheasant or Malaysian peacock-pheasant, is a medium-sized pheasant of the galliform family Phasianidae. The closely related Bornean peacock-pheasant was formerly included here as a subspecies, but as understood today, P. malacense is monotypic.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Copper pheasant</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain peacock-pheasant</span> Species of bird

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Hoogerwerf's pheasant, also known as the Aceh pheasant or Sumatran pheasant is a medium-sized, up to 55 centimetres (22 in) long, bird of the family Phasianidae. The name commemorates the Dutch ornithologist and taxidermist Andries Hoogerwerf.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bornean crested fireback</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey peacock-pheasant</span> Species of bird

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crimson-headed partridge</span> Species of bird

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The Hainan peacock-pheasant is an endangered bird that belongs to the pheasant family Phasianidae. This extremely rare species is endemic to the island of Hainan, China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buru mountain pigeon</span> Species of bird from Buru, Indonesia

The Buru mountain pigeon is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae. It is endemic to Indonesia and inhabits montane forest and disturbed lowland forest on Buru. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Seram mountain pigeon. It is a medium-sized pigeon 33–38.5 cm (13.0–15.2 in) long, and has a blue-grey crown and neck, darker slate-grey upperparts, and a white to pale buff-pink throat and breast that becomes buff-pink towards the belly. The species is slightly sexually dimorphic, with females being smaller and having more dark red on the breast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seram mountain pigeon</span> Species of bird from Seram, Indonesia

The Seram mountain pigeon is a species of bird in the pigeon family Columbidae that is endemic to the island of Seram in Indonesia, where it inhabits hill forest. It was long considered to be a subspecies of the Buru mountain pigeon, but was split on the basis of differences in appearance. It is a medium-sized pigeon with a buff-pink face and breast, wine-pink underparts, a grey nape, crown, back of neck, and thighs, and dark chestnut belly and underside of the tail.

References

  1. BirdLife International (2016). "Polyplectron chalcurum". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016: e.T22679361A92812514. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679361A92812514.en . Retrieved 14 November 2021.
  2. Note that the molecular clock calibration method used by Kimball et al. (2001) is now known to be inappropriate, yielding far too low estimates in galliform birds.