![]() In those species believed to have polygynous or promiscuous mating systems, the males are more extravagantly adorned and may be up to twice the size of the more dowdy but well-camouflaged females. Many grouse species have bright yellow to red fleshy combs above the eyes, which in males especially become engorged and more prominent in the mating season. Other specialties include feathery ears in the eared-pheasants ( Crossoptilon), head crests as in the koklass ( Pucrasia macrolopha), monals ( Lophophorus), and crested wood-partridge ( Rollulus rouloul), and neck-ruffs in Lady Amherst's pheasant ( Chrysolophus amherstiae) and the ruffed grouse ( Bonasa umbellus). Garishly colored bib-like air sacs and paired erectile horns are unique to the tragopans ( Tragopan spp.). Fleshy and brightly colored wattles are characteristic of Bulwer's pheasant ( Lophura bulweri) and the junglefowls ( Gallus spp.). The ring-necked pheasant ( Phasianus colchicus) has a bright red skin patch around the eye, while in the crested fireback ( Lophura ignita) it is blue. ![]() Male turkeys have a naked red crop and the fleshy and flexible caruncle, which can change rapidly in color from red to blue and dangles beside the beak. Generally, the legs and neck are short, the head and tail small, although in some of the large species, longer necks and tails have evolved.įacial adornments are many and various, again particularly in the larger species and especially in the males. This in turn has evolved in parallel with their typical flight behavior: an explosively energetic take-off to gain height followed by a fast glide. Their dominant common feature is a heavy rounded body, which is the result of extreme development of the flight muscles over the sternum. The species in this family vary enormously in size, from tiny quails ( Coturnix spp.) weighing less than 2 oz (43 g) to the wild turkey ( Meleagris gallopavo) weighing up to 24.2 lb (11 kg). It differs from the Edwards's pheasant only in having white central tail feathers in the male. Yet another pheasant had been discovered in the same Annamese lowlands area in 1964, and was adopted as a new species, the Vietnamese pheasant ( L. nycthemera berliozi) was deliberately crossed with Edwards's pheasant to produce birds that appear identical to imperial pheasants, thus suggesting that the few imperials recovered from the wild were rare interspecific hybrids. During 20, the Berlioz's silver pheasant ( L. ![]() Some long-established species have also come under renewed scrutiny, including Edwards's pheasant ( Lophura edwardsi) and the imperial pheasant ( L. The Gunnison sage grouse ( Centrocercus minimus) was only recognized as a full species in 2000, and lives in just eight localities at the southern limit for this genus in southwest Colorado and southeast Utah. The Udzungwa forest-partridge ( Xenoperdix udzungwensis), first discovered in 1991, appears to be more closely related to the Southeast Asian hill-partridges ( Arborophila) than to any African species. The DNA evidence shows that the Congo peafowl ( Afropavo congensis) is not closely related to either the guineafowls or partridges with which it shares its continent, Africa, having the most in common with the other peafowls ( Pavo spp.) in South and Southeast Asia. ![]() Unraveling the taxonomic affinities of some individual species in this family has produced some real surprises. When more such data becomes available and the resulting pattern of relationships among these species stabilizes, a completely new taxonomy for the Phasianinae is likely to emerge. The current DNA evidence confirms that grouse and turkeys are closely related and probably evolved alongside the other main types within this complex family. North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia Evolution and systematicsįrom studies based on DNA comparisons as well as traditional morphological work, it seems clear that the turkeys (Meleagridinae), grouse (Tetraoninae), and pheasants and Old World partridges (Phasianinae) form an assemblage distinct from the other Galliformes. Plump, ground-based birds of a great size range, with short, broad wings and stout bills and feet males of larger species are often heavier with striking plumage and elaborate displaysĦ–49 in (15–125 cm) 1.5 oz–24.2 lb (43 g–11.0 kg)įorest, woodland, bogs, tundra, mountains, savanna, desert fringesĬritically Endangered: 3 species Endangered: 9 species Vulnerable: 38 species Near Threatened: 21 species
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