Pavo (bird)

Pavo Temporal range: Late Miocene to present
Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) displaying its tail
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Tribe:	Pavonini
Genus:	Pavo Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Pavo cristatus (Indian peafowl) Linnaeus, 1758
Species
Pavo cristatus Pavo muticus

A leucistic Indian peacock in display

Pavo is a genus of two Asiatic species in the tribe Pavonini. The two species, along with the Congo peafowl of Africa, are commonly referred to as "peafowl".

Taxonomy

The genus Pavo was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae . ^[1] The genus name is the Latin word for a peacock. ^[2] The type species is the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus). ^[3]

Species

The genus Pavo contains two species, both native to Asia: ^[4]

Genus Pavo – Linnaeus, 1758 – two species

Common name	Scientific name and subspecies	Range	Size and ecology	IUCN status and estimated population
Indian peafowl Male Female	Pavo cristatus Linnaeus, 1758	South Asia; introduced elsewhere	Size: Habitat: Diet:	LC
Green peafowl Male Female	Pavo muticus Linnaeus, 1766 Three subspecies P. m. muticusLinnaeus, 1766 P. m. spicifer Shaw, 1804 P. m. imperator Delacour, 1949	Southeast Asia	Size: Habitat: Diet:	EN

Fossil record

• Pavo bravardi (Bravard's peafowl) (Early – Late Pliocene) – Gallus moldovicus, sometimes misspelt moldavicus, may be a junior synonym ^[5]
• Gallus aesculapii, a Late Miocene – Early Pliocene "junglefowl" of Greece, may also have been a peafowl ^[5]

In the Pliocene on the Balkan Peninsula, Bravard's peafowl coexisted with ptarmigans (Lagopus sp.) ^[6] Peafowl were widespread on the Balkan Peninsula and in Southeastern Europe until the end of the Pliocene. ^[7]

References

1. Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 156.
2. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 294. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
3. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 133.
4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Pheasants, partridges, francolins". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
5. Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (1989). "A peafowl from the Pliocene of Perpignan, France" (PDF). Palaeontology. 32 (2): 439 – via The Palaeontological Association.
6. Boev, Zlatorar (1998). "Peafowls (g. Pavo Linnaeus, 1758) and Ptarmigans (g. Lagopus Brisson, 1760): an[sic] unique coexistance in North Bulgaria over 3 m. y. ago". - Biogeographia , Nuova Serie, Siena, 19 – 1997: 219-222. doi : 10.21426/B6110058
7. Boev, Z. (2002). "Fossil record and disappearance of peafowl (Pavo Linnaeus) from the Balkan Peninsula and Europe (Aves: Phasianidae)". Historia naturalis bulgarica. 14: 109–115.

External links

• White Peacocks Information