Argus Pheasant
| Argus Pheasant | ||||||||||
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Argus Pheasant ( Argusianus argus ), rooster |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||
| Argusianus | ||||||||||
| Gray , 1849 | ||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||
| Argusianus argus | ||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1766) |
The Argus pheasant or Arguspfau ( Argusianus argus ) is a bird art from the order of Galliformes and the family of pheasant-like . Its name comes from the eye patches on the arm feathers: Argos is a many-eyed cyclops in Greek mythology .
features
The physique of the Argus pheasant is similar to that of other pheasant species. It has a short neck with a small head and a short, downwardly curved, yellowish-white beak. Its pale red feet are strong and have long claws. The species has a very pronounced sexual dimorphism. While the male has conspicuous eye spots on the extended arm wings , the female is inconspicuous brown without any particular characteristics.
The male reaches a body length of 160 to 200 centimeters, of which about 140 centimeters fall on the tail. It can weigh up to 2280 grams. It has a dark brown belly and back, the chest is reddish brown. The head and parts of the neck are not feathered, the skin of the face is colored blue. A short comb of black feathers stretches over the head. Shoulders and elytra are light beige and covered with countless brown, gray and black dots. The cock's tail is speckled with white on a black background. It consists of 12 feathers that get longer towards the middle. As already mentioned, the rooster has extended arm wings. In the rest position, these are laid on top of each other like a roof so that only the top one is completely visible. The tips of the arm feathers are evenly colored light brown. The inside flags are gray and brown, the outside flags have seven orange and brown rimmed eye spots on a dark and white striped background. The wings of the hand of the male are very short, yellow-brown in color and mottled dark.
Hens grow to be 72 to 76 centimeters long, weigh 1,700 grams and have neither long control feathers nor eye patches on their arm wings. Their arm feathers are shorter and gray-brown. Only the face has bare skin, but these are dark gray-blue. The feather comb on the head is also missing. Otherwise the plumage color corresponds to that of the male.
In terms of color and body structure, a distinction is made between two subspecies (see below).
Way of life
The argus pheasant is very shy. Because of its elongated arm feathers, it can fly even worse than other chicken birds. It mainly eats seeds and other parts of plants that it picks from the ground.
During the mating season, the male defends an open spot on the forest floor. It emits loud, plaintive cries that are very similar to those of peacocks and are intended to attract females. During courtship, the rooster lifts its tail forward over the body, spreads its wings, turns the wings of the hand upwards and twitches with them. After mating, the rooster looks for a new partner. The female takes care of the offspring alone. It lays two red-brown eggs in a simple hollow on the floor. The clutch is incubated for about 25 days. The young are fleeing nests and follow the hen close to the body. They take the food out of the mother's beak. They reach sexual maturity around the age of one year.
Systematics
The Argus pheasant is in the genus Argusianus , which is quite similar to the genus Rheinardia . Like them, Argusianus has 12 control springs , but differs in the elongated middle pair, which can be four times as long as the outer control springs. Another feature of this genus are the clearly elongated arm wings, which are much longer than the hand wings. The head and neck are mostly featherless. Spurs on the barrel are not pronounced.
For a long time the double-banded argus pheasant ( A. bipunctatus ) was considered the second species of the genus. It was described on the basis of a single feather in 1871 and has long been very controversial because no specimens of this type could be found. In 2009 it was finally demonstrated that the feather described is an abnormal feather of the Argus pheasant and that the species is invalid. The genus Argusianus is therefore monotypical .
Two subspecies occur within the distribution area:
- Malay Argus Pheasant ( A. a. Argus Linnaeus 1766). The nominate form occurs on the Asian mainland and on Sumatra. The rooster is 170 to 200 centimeters long, the hen between 75 and 76 centimeters.
- Borneo Argus Pheasant ( A. a. Grayi Elliot 1865). It occurs in Borneo. The rooster becomes 160 to 180 centimeters long, the hen reaches a length of 72 to 73 centimeters. It is more delicate than the nominate form, has a larger red patch on the chest, the skin of the face is more strongly colored and its feather crest is more pronounced.
Habitat, Distribution and Protection
The argus pheasant lives in the tropical rainforest of Southeast Asia . It inhabits heights of a maximum of 1300 meters, but usually only occurs up to about 900 meters. The bird lives in the south of Bangladesh , Thailand and Myanmar , as well as on the Malay Peninsula , on Sumatra and Borneo .
The populations are slowly decreasing. Reasons for this are clearing the forests and hunting. In the IUCN Redlist ( Red List of Endangered Species ) the Argus Pheasant is listed as near threatened (potentially endangered).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Steve Madge, Phil McGowan: Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse , Helm Identification Guides, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 , p. 339
- ↑ GWH Davison & Phil McGowan: Asian enigma: Is the Double-banded Argus Argusianus bipunctatus a valid species? In: BirdingASIA 12, 2009 p. 94
- ↑ Argusianus argus in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2013.2. Listed by: BirdLife International, 2013. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
literature
- Theo Jahn: Brehm's new animal encyclopedia . Verlag Herder KG, Freiburg im Breisgau Special edition for Prisma Verlag GmbH, Gütersloh 1982, ISBN 3-570-08606-2
- David Burnie: Animals the Great Picture Encyclopedia . Dorling Kindersley Verlag GmbH, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-8310-0202-9
