Bornean Peacock-Pheasant
| Bornean Peacock-Pheasant | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Subfamily: | Phasianinae |
| Genus: | Polyplectron |
| Species: | P. schleiermacheri |
| Binomial name | |
| Polyplectron schleiermacheri Brüggemann, 1877 |
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| Synonyms | |
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Polyplectron malacense schleiermacheri |
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The Bornean Peacock-Pheasant, Polyplectron schleiermacheri is a medium-sized, up to 50 cm long, rufous brown and black spotted pheasant with an elongated crest and nape feathers, black below and bare red skin around bluish iris eye. The breast sides are metallic blue-green, bordering the white throat and central upper breast. Its twenty-two tail feathers are decorated with large blue-green ocelli, which may be spread fan-like in display. The female is smaller and duller brown than the male. It has a brown iris and no spurs on its feet.
The Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is probably the rarest and certainly the least known of all peacock-pheasants. This elusive bird is distributed and endemic to lowland forests of Borneo.
Together with the phenotypically similar Malayan Peacock-Pheasant and - its sister species -, Palawan Peacock-Pheasant it represents a basal group in its genus; their radiation probably took place during the Pliocene (Kimball et al. 2001).[1] Being very poorly known, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant was long considered to be a subspecies of the Malayan Peacock-Pheasant, but it is well distinct[citation needed].
Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and limited range, the Bornean Peacock-Pheasant is evaluated as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Polyplectron schleiermacheri. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is endangered, and the criteria used
- Kimball, Rebecca T.; Braun, Edward L.; Ligon, J. David; Lucchini, Vittorio & Randi, Ettore (2001): A molecular phylogeny of the peacock-pheasants (Galliformes: Polyplectron spp.) indicates loss and reduction of ornamental traits and display behaviours. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 73(2): 187–198. HTML abstract
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ 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.
