The Hose's Partridge also known as Dulit Partridge, has been considered a distinctive subspecies

Subspecies

Subspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...

 of the Long-billed Partridge

Long-billed Partridge

The Long-billed Partridge is a species of bird in the Phasianidae family.-Distribution and habitat:It is found in the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, and subtropical or tropical moist...

, a bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the Phasianidae

Phasianidae

The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, including the junglefowl , Old World Quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, and is occasionally broken up into two subfamilies, the Phasianinae, and the Perdicinae...

, or pheasant, family. It is endemic to Borneo

Borneo

Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....

, where it appears to be separated altitudinally from the nominate subspecies, and is often considered now to be a full species, Rhizothera dulitensis. It is little-known, rare, and has not been recorded since 1937.

Description

The partridge is 30 cm in length. Like the Long-billed Partridge, it is mainly rufous-buff in colour, with a lavender-grey breast-band, a long, black, curved bill and yellow legs. It differs from the Long-billed Partridge in that the grey breast band is twice as wide, and the underparts are whitish-buff rather than bright orange-buff.

Distribution and habitat

The partridge is confined to lower montane

Montane

In biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...

 forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 on the mountains of Borneo. It was first recorded from Mount Dulit

Mount Dulit

Mount Dulit is a mountain in Borneo. It peaks at 1311 m above sea level and stands at the head of the Baram River in northern Sarawak, Malaysia. It is a western outlier of the Bornean cordillera and is largely covered with tropical rainforest...

 and later found on Mount Murud

Mount Murud

Mount Murud or Muru is a sandstone mountain located in the Malaysian part of Borneo. At 2,423 m , it is the highest mountain in the state of Sarawak....

 and Mount Batu Song, all in northern Sarawak

Sarawak

Sarawak is one of two Malaysian states on the island of Borneo. Known as Bumi Kenyalang , Sarawak is situated on the north-west of the island. It is the largest state in Malaysia followed by Sabah, the second largest state located to the North- East.The administrative capital is Kuching, which...

. Two specimens were collected by Everett

Alfred Hart Everett

Alfred Hart Everett was a British civil servant and administrator in Borneo as well as being a naturalist and natural history collector.-Career:...

 on Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu

Mount Kinabalu is a prominent mountain on the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is located in the East Malaysian state of Sabah and is protected as Kinabalu National Park, a World Heritage Site. Kinabalu is the tallest peak in Borneo's Crocker Range and is the tallest mountain in the Malay...

 in Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...

 in 1895, but it has not been recorded from that state since.

Status and conservation

Orenstein et al. (2010) suggest that the partridge may be seriously threatened by habitat degradation and hunting, and that an important conservation priority is its rediscovery. BirdLife International

BirdLife International

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...

 considers that it may have been in rapid decline because of habitat destruction

Habitat destruction

Habitat destruction is the process in which natural habitat is rendered functionally unable to support the species present. In this process, the organisms that previously used the site are displaced or destroyed, reducing biodiversity. Habitat destruction by human activity mainly for the purpose of...

and degradation, and that its taxonomic status should be investigated.