Caliphatic pheasant
| Caliphatic pheasant | ||||||||||
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Rooster of the nominate form caliph pheasant ( Lophura leucomelanos leucomelanos ), here one of the animals introduced to Hawaii |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Lophura leucomelanos | ||||||||||
| ( Latham , 1790) |
The kalij pheasant ( Lophura leucomelanos ) is a Hühnervogel art from the family of pheasant-like , their distribution from the western Himalayas to the to Thailand related part of the Malay Peninsula ranges.
description
The cock of the nominate form ("Nepal pheasant") reaches a body length of 48–57 cm, of which 25–31 cm are on the tail. The wing length is between 216 and 230 mm, the weight between 795 and 1140 g. The wing length of the hen is 204-211 mm.
Except for the red eye region with the pronounced facial lobes, the head of the rooster is feathered up to the upper fore neck and on the top down to the nape of the neck. The iris is orange to brown, the beak greenish white. The hood, which is longer and thinner than that of the silver pheasant and can also be erected more clearly, is uniformly black in the nominate form and gray to whitish in other subspecies. The black plumage of the crop region and the breast is elongated in a lanceolate shape and shows white shaft lines and, depending on the subspecies, more or less extensive, white tips. In the nominate form, they are narrow. The underside and the flanks show a brown, which becomes darker towards the under tail ceilings. The front back is black with a steel blue sheen, the feathers here in some subspecies have white shaft lines and brown hems, they are missing in the nominate form. The rear back, rump and upper tail-coverts are black-blue with a brown base and white border, which is narrow in the nominate form and broadly white in other subspecies. The control springs are glossy blue black. The hand wings are dark brown, the arm wings are blackish with a blue sheen on the outer seams and the complete flags of the inner feathers. The legs and feet are gray to brownish gray.
The hen wears a pale brown bonnet with light-colored shafts, the eye region is featherless and red like the rooster, but not as extensive and enlarged. The body plumage is reddish brown and has narrow white sheep lines, light hems and a fine, black tip on the upper side. On the underside, the hems are lined with yellowish beige, towards the middle of the abdomen the brown base color becomes darker. The control springs are dark brown with a bluish sheen. The middle pair, on the other hand, is reddish brown with reddish brown shafts and yellowish brown transverse waves and speckles.
Distribution and existence
The distribution of the Kalifasan ranges from the western Himalayas to Bhutan , Assam and Manipur , southwards through Myanmar and western Thailand to the northern part of the Malay Peninsula. In the east the range of the silver pheasant joins, with which there are mixed populations.
The species was introduced in Hawaii . The population of the Kalifasan is not threatened.
Geographic variation
The species varies quite significantly. In the upper side plumage, the luster and width of the white seams vary, some of which can be almost absent, some are very wide, so B. at L. l. hamiltonii, especially the rump looks almost white, in other subspecies the upper side is almost black, but has a greater sheen. The breast feathers also vary greatly, in some subspecies they appear gray due to their wide, light tips, in others they have a very fine edge. In both sexes, the hood varies in color and appearance - some subspecies tend to wear it upright, others more lying down. In the case of the hens, the basic color and the contrast of the light feather edges also vary.
- L. l. hamiltoni ( JE Gray , 1829) - western Himalayas, from the Indus eastward to western Nepal, there presumably to the Ghaghara
- L. l. leucomelanos ( Latham , 1790) - west and east-central Nepal
- L. l. melanota ( Hutton , 1848) - Sikkim and western Bhutan eastward to the Mo Chhu and Sankosh rivers
- L. l. moffitti ( Hachisuka , 1938) - the only known wild specimen comes from the Pe Chu valley in Bhutan
- L. l. lathami ( JE Gray , 1829) - eastern Bhutan and northern Assam eastward to the Irrawaddy in Myanmar, southward to Chittagong and the Rakhine state
- L. l. williamsi ( Oates , 1898) - eastern Manipur to the Irrawaddy in Myanmar
- L. l. oatesi ( Ogilvie Grant , 1898) - Rakhine State in Myanmar
- L. l. lineata ( Vigors , 1831) - southern Myanmar from the Irrawaddy south to western Thailand
- L. l. crawfurdi ( JE Gray , 1829) - from Bago and the northern Tanintharyi division eastward to northwestern Thailand
Way of life
The Kalifasan inhabits mountain forests of low to medium elevations between 300 and 3350 m. The species often migrates to the valleys in winter. The western subspecies mostly occur in all forest forms with a lot of undergrowth and ferns, the eastern ones prefer hill country with scrub, rocky gorges and bamboo-lined brook banks.
The behavior is similar to the pheasant . Food is often sought in cultivated land and in open areas that border on the retreats. Sometimes people scratch with their feet, but mostly with their beak. The activity is most pronounced in the morning and evening. The territorial behavior includes a noisy whirring of wings, the courtship is a simple side court with an upright hood and spread tail. The species is mostly monogamous . Larger associations were observed in some cases in the winter months.
The breeding season is between March and June and varies depending on altitude and geographic location. The clutch usually consists of 6–9, more rarely up to 15 eggs. The egg color varies between light cream, beige and dark reddish. The egg size is 50 × 37 mm and the incubation period is between 24 and 25 days.
Systematics
The systematics of this kind was controversial for a long time. The distribution area of the calf pheasant borders on that of the silver pheasant ( Lophura nycthemera ) in the west and there are mixed populations whose descriptions as new species in the 19th century caused a great deal of confusion. Both species have been described in a total of 49 taxa and 28 species. In a revision in 1949, Jean Théodore Delacour placed them in a superspecies with two species as well as 12 leucomelanos subspecies and 15 nycthemera subspecies. Doubts arose in the 1990s about the assignment of three subspecies. The subspecies of the caliphatic pheasant have gray to dark gray legs and feet and thus differ from those of the silver pheasant, which have red legs and feet. So far, the three eastern subspecies of the Kalifasan L. l have been an exception . oatesi , lineata and crawfurdi , which occur east of the Irrawaddys and in this as in other characteristics lead to the silver pheasant. The feathers on the upper side are more or less finely dotted with white to multiple V-shaped lines, the middle tail feathers are light to white. The feet partly have a reddish to red color like the silver pheasant. A study of the mitochondrial DNA in 2003 showed that they are indeed closer to the caliph pheasant than the silver pheasant and to be incorporated into the former species.
literature
- Heinz-Sigurd Raethel : Chicken birds of the world. Verlag J. Neumann-Neudamm GmbH & Co. KG, Melsungen 1988, ISBN 3-7888-0440-8 .
- Steve Madge , Phil McGowan : Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse. Helm Identification Guides, Christopher Helm, London 2002, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0 .
- S. Moulin, E. Randi, C. Tabbaroni, A. Hennache: Mitochondrial DNA diversification among the subspecies of the Silver and Kalij Pheasants, Lophura nycthemera and L. leucomelanos, Phasianidae , Ibis Vol. 145/1, January 2003, pp. E1-E11
Individual evidence
Web links
- Lophura leucomelanos in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: BirdLife International, 2009. Retrieved on 30 September, 2010.
- Videos, photos and sound recordings of Lophura leucomelanos in the Internet Bird Collection
- Lophura leucomelanos photos in the Oriental Bird Club image database , accessed September 30, 2010