Purple chickens

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Purple chickens
Purple Grouse (Porphyrio porphyrio)

Purple Grouse ( Porphyrio porphyrio )

Systematics
Sub-stem : Vertebrates (vertebrata)
Class : Birds (aves)
Order : Crane birds (Gruiformes)
Family : Rallen (Rallidae)
Genre : Purple chickens
Scientific name
Porphyry
Brisson , 1760

The purple chickens ( Porphyrio ) are a genus of the Rallen, in which there are several flightless island species .

description

The size varies between 33 cm for the pygmy sultans chicken and 63 cm for the South Island kahe, which is about the size of a goose with an average weight of 2,650 kg and the largest living rail in the world.

Purple chickens are rails, the color of which can include black, brown and a metallic green, blue, or purple. Usually the back and wings are colored differently than the belly. Only the Lord Howe purple hen was white or white with a hint of blue.

Way of life

Most species live in wetlands and feed on swamp plants and / or insects.

Reproduction

P. porphyrio chick

In addition to the two parent animals, adolescent pups from the previous year often take part in brood care. In P. porphyrio it also happens that several egg-laying females are involved in a clutch. In the case of low population density, only the parents usually take part in the brood; in the case of high population density, the group size increases, since the animals in a group can better defend a territory together and thus keep larger territories. In addition, all adult birds take part in feeding the young.

The chicks have black down and have finger claws on their wings. The young animals flee the nest and are first fed exclusively with insects. Plant-based food is gradually added later.

species

Almost all flightless island species have split off from this species. The only surviving species is the South Island kahe.

In contrast to the original species, the two Takahes did not live / live in wetlands, but in the high mountains and only nourished / nourish themselves plant-based.

  • Reunion purple hen ( Porphyrio coerulescens ); The species was endemic to Réunion and was called "oiseau bleu" by early seafarers. There is no consensus on whether or not the bird was able to fly. The bird was easy to catch and therefore was probably exterminated around 1730. He lived in mountain forests.
  • New Caledonian purple hen ( Porphyrio kukwiedei ); The New Caledonian purple chicken was a very large, flightless species of purple chicken.
  • Koau ( Porphyrio paepae ); The Koau lived on Hiva-Oa at least until 1937. It was a smaller, probably flightless species of purple grouse whose remains were discovered by Steadmann in 1986-87 on the islands of Hiva Oa and Tahuata , only 3 km apart . The bones found probably date from the time between 1100 and 1200 AD. It had slightly receded wings, but was possibly still airworthy. The species had probably survived until 1902, when it was painted by Paul Gauguin ; a bird in the picture Le Sorcier d'Hiva Oa ou le Marquisien à la cape rouge is said to be a Koau.
  • Porphyrio mcnabi is a small extinct species of purple grouse that was described after bone finds. It was named after Brian K. McNab, who did research on flightless birds. It is larger than P. flavirostris and P. allen and smaller than the purple fowl (P. porphyrio) the two Takahes and P. kukwiedei. It is not known whether it was airworthy or not, as there were no bones of the flight apparatus in the finds.

The remaining three types of purple chickens were originally placed in their own genus sultan chickens ( Porphyrula ) and each have a smaller distribution area than the purple hen ( P. porphyrio ).

  • Pygmy sultana ( Porphyrio martinica ); Breeds in the United States and the Caribbean Islands
  • Azure Grouse ( Porphyrio flavirostris ); Lives in the United States, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands

  • Purple Grouse ( Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus )

  • Pygmy sultan ( Porphyrio martinica )

  • South Islanders akahe with chicks ( Porphyrio hochstetteri )

  • Lord Howe Purple Grouse ( Porphyrio albus ) Illustration by Sarah Stone , from Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, 1790

  • Koau ( Porphyrio paepae ) on the painting by Paul Gauguin

swell

Web links

Commons : Porphyrio  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Steven A. Trewick: Sympatric flightless rails Gallirallus dieffenbachii and G. modestus on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand; morphometrics and alternative evolutionary scenarios. Journal of The Royal Society of New Zealand Volume 27 Number 4 December 1997 pp 451-464
  2. ^ BirdLife International 2008. Porphyrio coerulescens. In: IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. www.iucnredlist.org. Downloaded on 09 December 2008.
  3. ^ A b Kirchman JJ, Steadman DW: New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from an Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands. Pacific Science: Vol. 60, No. 2 pp. 281-297 (2006)
  4. ^ David W. Steadman: Extinction and Biogeography of Tropical Pacific Birds. ISBN 978-0-226-77142-7 . University of Chicago Pr .; Edition: New ed. (October 2006)
  5. ↑ Kirchman, Jeremy J .: New Species of Rails (Aves: Rallidae) from an Archaeological Site on Huahine, Society Islands. Pacific Science - Volume 60, Number 2, April 2006, pp. 281-297. doi : 10.1353 / psc.2006.0007