Sclater's monal

Sclater's monal
	Female
Conservation status
	; Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Subfamily:	Phasianinae
Genus:	Lophophorus
Species:	L. sclateri
Binomial name
	Lophophorus sclateri; Jerdon, 1870

Sclater's monal, Lophophorus sclateri, also known as the crestless monal, is a large, approximately 68 centimetres (27 in) long, pheasant of the east Himalayan region. As other monals, the male is a colorful bird. It has a highly iridescent purplish-green upperparts plumage, short and curly metallic green crown feathers, copper neck, purplish-black throat, white back, blue orbital skin, yellowish-orange bill and brown iris. In the nominate subspecies, the tail is white with a broad chestnut band, while the tail is entirely white in L. s. arunachalensis from western Arunachal Pradesh in India.^[2] The crestless female is mostly a dark brown bird with a white throat and tail-tip, dull bluish orbital skin and a pale yellow bill.

Sclater's monal is distributed to mountain forests of northeast India, southeast Tibet and northern Burma, at altitudes of 2,500 to 4,200 metres (8,200 to 13,800 ft). The diet of the Sclater's monal is like that of other members of the genus Lophophorus, probably consists mainly of tubers, roots, bulbs, arthropods, rodents, seeds and flowers. The female usually lays between three and five eggs. It is not known if the Sclater's monal male participates in nest defense, but it is likely.

The name commemorates the British zoologist Philip Lutley Sclater.^[3]

Due to ongoing habitat loss, small population size, limited range and overhunting in some areas for food and its feathers, Sclater's monal is evaluated as Vulnerable on IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix I of CITES.

Taxonomy

There are two recognized subspecies:

L. s. arunachalensis (Kumar and Singh, 2004) - northern India
L. s. sclateri (Jerdon, 1870, ) - nominate - Himalayas of northeast India to southwest China

References

^ Template:IUCN
^ Suresh Kumar R. & P. Singh (2004). A new subspecies of Sclater’s monal Lophophorus sclateri from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club 124(1): 16-27.
^ Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 304.

External links

[IUCN-1] Template:IUCN

[2] Suresh Kumar R. & P. Singh (2004). A new subspecies of Sclater’s monal Lophophorus sclateri from western Arunachal Pradesh, India. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club 124(1): 16-27.

[3] Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). Whose Bird? Men and Women Commemorated in the Common Names of Birds. London: Christopher Helm. p. 304.

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