Grey Peacock-pheasant
Encyclopedia
The Grey Peacock-Pheasant, Polyplectron bicalcaratum also known as Burmese Peacock is a large Southeast Asia
n member of the order
Galliformes
. It is rather closely related to the peafowl
(Pavo), and like these – and like most other Polyplectron
– has brilliant eyespot
s on its plumage. It is the national bird of Myanmar
.
, up to 76 cm long and greyish brown with finely spotted green eyespot
s, an elongated bushy crest, bare pink or yellow facial skin, white throat, and grey iris
, bill
and legs. The sexes are rather similar, but the female is smaller, darker and less ornamented than the male. The young resemble the female.
The Grey Peacock-Pheasant is distributed in lowland and hill forests of mainland Assam
and Southeast Asia
, but excluding most of Indochina
as well as the entire Malayan Peninsula. The diet consists mainly of seeds, termites, fruits and invertebrates. The female usually lays two eggs.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Grey Peacock-Pheasant is evaluated as a Species of Least Concern
on the IUCN Red List
of Threatened Species. It is listed on CITES Appendix II, restricting trade in wild-caught birds to preserve its stocks.
are recognized today as good, while an additional one is of unclear validity:
One previous subspecies, the Hainan Peacock-Pheasant
(P. b. katsumatae), has since been given approved species (AS) status by the IOC
.
Lowe's Grey Peacock-Pheasant was described from a captive bird of unknown provenance. Similar examples have turned up on occasion, but the validity and – if distinct – home range of this taxon
remains unknown. It was theorized to inhabit western Assam
or the eastern Himalayas
, but this is based on conjecture.
The phylogeny of this species is fairly enigmatic. mtDNA cytochrome b
and D-loop
as well as the nuclear
ovomucoid intron
G sequence
data confirms that it belongs to a largely Continental Asian clade
together with Germain's Peacock-Pheasant (P. germaini), but also the "brown" southern species Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant (P. chalcurum) and Mountain Peacock-Pheasant (P. inopinatum).
The ovomucin sequence seems to have evolved convergently
or with a decreased mutation
al rate on the Grey and the Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant. Though they are quite similar on the molecular level, the distance and interspersed populations of their closest relatives argue against a much more recently shared common ancestry between them versus the other two "northern" peacock-pheasants. Also, the cytochrome b and D-loop data does not support a closer relationship between P. bicalcaratus and P. chalcurum; overall, as it seems the four species' ancestors separated during a very short timespan.
Note however that in the absence of dedicated phylogeographic studies, the molecular data is only of limited value in this species, the most morphologically
diverse and widespread peacock-pheasant: There is no data on the origin and number of specimens, but it is unlikely that more than one or two individuals – possibly of captive origin and undeterminable subspecific
allocation – were sampled. All that can be reasonably assumed is that the Grey Peacock-Pheasant evolved
on mainland Southeast Asia, probably during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene
3.6-1 million years ago.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
n member of the order
Order (biology)
In scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
Galliformes
Galliformes
Galliformes are an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding domestic or game bird, containing turkey, grouse, chicken, New and Old World Quail, ptarmigan, partridge, pheasant, and the Cracidae. Common names are gamefowl or gamebirds, landfowl, gallinaceous birds or galliforms...
. It is rather closely related to the peafowl
Peafowl
Peafowl are two Asiatic species of flying birds in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae, best known for the male's extravagant eye-spotted tail, which it displays as part of courtship. The male is called a peacock, the female a peahen, and the offspring peachicks. The adult female...
(Pavo), and like these – and like most other Polyplectron
Polyplectron
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 utilising specialised plumage that when...
– has brilliant eyespot
Eyespot (mimicry)
An eyespot is an eye-like marking. They are found on butterflies, reptiles, birds and fish. In members of the Felidae family , the white circular markings on the backs of the ears are termed ocelli, and they are functionally similar to eyespots in other animals.Eyespots may be a form of...
s on its plumage. It is the national bird of Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
.
Description and ecology
It is a large pheasantPheasant
Pheasants refer to some members of the Phasianinae subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have...
, up to 76 cm long and greyish brown with finely spotted green eyespot
Eyespot (mimicry)
An eyespot is an eye-like marking. They are found on butterflies, reptiles, birds and fish. In members of the Felidae family , the white circular markings on the backs of the ears are termed ocelli, and they are functionally similar to eyespots in other animals.Eyespots may be a form of...
s, an elongated bushy crest, bare pink or yellow facial skin, white throat, and grey iris
Iris (anatomy)
The iris is a thin, circular structure in the eye, responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupils and thus the amount of light reaching the retina. "Eye color" is the color of the iris, which can be green, blue, or brown. In some cases it can be hazel , grey, violet, or even pink...
, bill
Beak
The beak, bill or rostrum is an external anatomical structure of birds which is used for eating and for grooming, manipulating objects, killing prey, fighting, probing for food, courtship and feeding young...
and legs. The sexes are rather similar, but the female is smaller, darker and less ornamented than the male. The young resemble the female.
The Grey Peacock-Pheasant is distributed in lowland and hill forests of mainland Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
and Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, but excluding most of Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
as well as the entire Malayan Peninsula. The diet consists mainly of seeds, termites, fruits and invertebrates. The female usually lays two eggs.
Widespread throughout its large range, the Grey Peacock-Pheasant is evaluated as a Species of Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
of Threatened Species. It is listed on CITES Appendix II, restricting trade in wild-caught birds to preserve its stocks.
Systematics
Three subspeciesSubspecies
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...
are recognized today as good, while an additional one is of unclear validity:
- P. b. bicalcaratum Linnaeus, 1758 – Common Grey Peacock-Pheasant
- P. b. ghigii DelacourJean Théodore DelacourJean Théodore Delacour was an American ornithologist of French origin. He was renowned for not only discovering but also rearing some of the rarest birds in the world...
& Jabouille, 1924 – Ghigi's Grey Peacock-Pheasant - P. b. bailyi LowePercy LowePercy Roycroft Lowe was an English surgeon and ornithologist.Lowe was born at Stamford, Lincolnshire and studied medicine at Jesus College, Cambridge. He served as a civil surgeon in the Second Boer War, and it was whilst in South Africa that he became interested in ornithology...
, 1925 – Lowe's Grey Peacock-Pheasant (disputed) - P. b. bakeri Lowe, 1925 – Northern Grey Peacock-Pheasant
One previous subspecies, the Hainan Peacock-Pheasant
Hainan Peacock-pheasant
The Hainan Peacock-Pheasant is an endangered bird that belongs to the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is endemic to the island of Hainan, China. It is extremely rare.- Description :...
(P. b. katsumatae), has since been given approved species (AS) status by the IOC
International Ornithological Congress
The International Ornithological Congress series forms the oldest and largest international series of meetings of ornithologists. It is organised by the International Ornithological Committee, a group of about 200 ornithologists...
.
Lowe's Grey Peacock-Pheasant was described from a captive bird of unknown provenance. Similar examples have turned up on occasion, but the validity and – if distinct – home range of this taxon
Taxon
|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement...
remains unknown. It was theorized to inhabit western Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
or the eastern Himalayas
Himalayas
The Himalaya Range or Himalaya Mountains Sanskrit: Devanagari: हिमालय, literally "abode of snow"), usually called the Himalayas or Himalaya for short, is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
, but this is based on conjecture.
The phylogeny of this species is fairly enigmatic. mtDNA cytochrome b
Cytochrome b
Cytochrome b/b6 is the main subunit of transmembrane cytochrome bc1 and b6f complexes. In addition, it commonly refers to a region of mtDNA used for population genetics and phylogenetics.- Function :...
and D-loop
D-loop
In molecular biology, a displacement loop or D-loop is a DNA structure where the two strands of a double-stranded DNA molecule are separated for a stretch and held apart by a third strand of DNA. The third strand has a base sequence which is complementary to one of the main strands and pairs with...
as well as the nuclear
Nuclear DNA
Nuclear DNA, nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid , is DNA contained within a nucleus of eukaryotic organisms. In mammals and vertebrates, nuclear DNA encodes more of the genome than the mitochondrial DNA and is composed of information inherited from two parents, one male, and one female, rather than...
ovomucoid intron
Intron
An intron is any nucleotide sequence within a gene that is removed by RNA splicing to generate the final mature RNA product of a gene. The term intron refers to both the DNA sequence within a gene, and the corresponding sequence in RNA transcripts. Sequences that are joined together in the final...
G sequence
DNA sequence
The sequence or primary structure of a nucleic acid is the composition of atoms that make up the nucleic acid and the chemical bonds that bond those atoms. Because nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA, are unbranched polymers, this specification is equivalent to specifying the sequence of...
data confirms that it belongs to a largely Continental Asian clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
together with Germain's Peacock-Pheasant (P. germaini), but also the "brown" southern species Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant (P. chalcurum) and Mountain Peacock-Pheasant (P. inopinatum).
The ovomucin sequence seems to have evolved convergently
Convergent evolution
Convergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, both birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are...
or with a decreased mutation
Mutation
In molecular biology and genetics, mutations are changes in a genomic sequence: the DNA sequence of a cell's genome or the DNA or RNA sequence of a virus. They can be defined as sudden and spontaneous changes in the cell. Mutations are caused by radiation, viruses, transposons and mutagenic...
al rate on the Grey and the Bronze-tailed Peacock-Pheasant. Though they are quite similar on the molecular level, the distance and interspersed populations of their closest relatives argue against a much more recently shared common ancestry between them versus the other two "northern" peacock-pheasants. Also, the cytochrome b and D-loop data does not support a closer relationship between P. bicalcaratus and P. chalcurum; overall, as it seems the four species' ancestors separated during a very short timespan.
Note however that in the absence of dedicated phylogeographic studies, the molecular data is only of limited value in this species, the most morphologically
Morphology (biology)
In biology, morphology is a branch of bioscience dealing with the study of the form and structure of organisms and their specific structural features....
diverse and widespread peacock-pheasant: There is no data on the origin and number of specimens, but it is unlikely that more than one or two individuals – possibly of captive origin and undeterminable subspecific
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...
allocation – were sampled. All that can be reasonably assumed is that the Grey Peacock-Pheasant evolved
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
on mainland Southeast Asia, probably during the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene
Early Pleistocene
Calabrian is a subdivision of the Pleistocene Epoch of the Geologic time scale. ~1.8 Ma.—781,000 years ago ± 5,000 years, a period of ~.The end of the stage is defined by the last magnetic pole reversal and plunge in to an ice age and global drying possibly colder and drier than the late Miocene ...
3.6-1 million years ago.