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Red spurfowl

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Red spurfowl
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Galloperdix
Species:
G. spadicea
Binomial name
Galloperdix spadicea
(Gmelin, JF,1789)

Thered spurfowl(Galloperdix spadicea) is a member of thepheasant familyand isendemicto India. It is a bird of forests, and is quite secretive despite its size. It has a distinctive call and is often hard to see except for a few seconds when it flushes from the undergrowth. It appears reddish and like a long-tailed partridge. The bare skin around the eye is reddish. The legs of both males and females have one or two spurs, which give them their name.

Taxonomy

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The red spurfowl wasformally describedin 1789 by the German naturalistJohann Friedrich Gmelinin his revised and expanded edition ofCarl Linnaeus'sSystema Naturae.He placed it with all the grouse like birds in thegenusTetraoand coined thebinomial nameTetrao spadiceus.[2]Gmelin based his description onPierre Sonnerat's "La perdrix rouge de Madagascar".[3]Gmelin specified thetype localityas Madagascar. This is an error, the species is found in India.[4]The red spurfowl is now placed withpainted spurfowland theSri Lanka spurfowlin the genusGalloperdixthat was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologistEdward Blyth.[5][6]The genus name combines the Latin wordgallusfor a "farmyard cock" withperdixmeaning "partridge". The specific epithetspadiceais fromLatinspadix,spadicismeaning "chestnut-coloured" or "date-coloured".[7]

Threesubspeciesare recognised:[6]

  • G. s. spadicea(Gmelin, JF, 1789) – west Nepal and north, central India
  • G. s. caurinaBlanford,1898 – southRajasthan(west India)
  • G. s. stewartiBaker, ECS,1919 – central, southKerala(south India)

In colouration, the females show clinal variation becoming darker towards the south of their range.[8]The name used in Marathi was recorded asKokee-treeand is probably onomatopoeic.[9]

Description

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Overall reddish-brown, this large partridge-like bird has a somewhat long tail. The upper parts are brown with dark barring while the face and neck are more grey in the male. The underside is rufous with dark markings and both sexes have a red facial skin patch and red legs with one or two spurs (rarely three or four[10]while females may have none[11]). Downy chicks have an unmarked cinnamon brown head, a dark brown band along the back bordered by creamy stripes edged with thin lines of dark brown.[12]The male of the distinctiveKeralarace,G. s. stewartihas all-chestnut plumage, including the head feathers.[13]Both sexes have long feathers on the crown that can be erected into a crest.[14]

Distribution and habitat

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The species is found in scrub, dry and moist-deciduous forests often in hilly country. They are found south of theGangesacrossIndia.They prefer areas with good undergrowth including those formed by the invasiveLantana.[13]

Behaviour and ecology

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Calls imitated by agreater racket-tailed drongo

Red spurfowl usually forage in small parties of three to five. When walking around, the tail is sometimes held vertical as in domestic fowl. They are quite silent in the day but call in the mornings and evenings. They feed on fallen seeds, berries,mollusksand insects apart from swallowing grit to aid digestion. When flushed, the usually fly a short distance and stay in well-defined territories throughout the year. They roost in trees.[13]

The calls include a distinctker-wick...kerwick...and harshkarr...karrr...notes. The Marathi nameKokatriis echoic in origin.[13]

The breeding season is January to June, mainly before the rains. A ground nesting bird, it lays 3-5eggsin a scrape. Males are monogynous which usually indicates greater male investment in parental duties but they do not incubate. Males have been observed to distract the attention of predators when females with chicks are nearby.[15]

The widespread nematodeHeterakis gallinaehas been recorded in the species in captivity[16]whileIxodidticks have been noted in the wild.[17]A species of helminthLerouxinema lerouxihas been described with the red spurfowl as type host.[18]Keratinophilic fungi such asCtenomyces serratushave been noted from the species.[19]

References

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  1. ^BirdLife International (2016)."Galloperdix spadicea".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016:e.T22679131A92803652.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679131A92803652.en.Retrieved13 November2021.
  2. ^Gmelin, Johann Friedrich(1789).Systema naturae per regna tria naturae: secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis(in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 2 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 759.
  3. ^Sonnerat, Pierre(1782).Voyage aux Indes orientales et a la Chine, fait par ordre du Roi, depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781(in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Chez l'Auteur. p. 169.
  4. ^Peters, James Lee,ed. (1934).Check-List of Birds of the World.Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 106.
  5. ^Blyth, Edward(1845)."On the Leiotrichane Birds of the Subhemalayas by B.H. Hodgson, Esq.: with some additions and annotations, — a Synopsis of the Indian Pari, — and of the Indian Fringillidae, By E. Blyth".Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.13, Part 2 (156): 933-944 [936 note].Although the title page is dated 1844, the article was not published until 1845.
  6. ^abGill, Frank;Donsker, David;Rasmussen, Pamela,eds. (July 2021)."Pheasants, partridges, francolins".IOC World Bird List Version 11.2.International Ornithologists' Union.Retrieved25 November2021.
  7. ^Jobling, James A. (2010).The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.London: Christopher Helm. pp.170,360.ISBN978-1-4081-2501-4.
  8. ^Rasmussen PC & JC Anderton (2005).Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2.Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 128.
  9. ^Baker, EC Stuart (1920)."The game birds of India, Burma and Ceylon, Part 29".J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.27(1): 1–24.
  10. ^Sharpe, CF (1895)."The spurs of the red spurfowl".J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.9(4): 487.
  11. ^Blanford WT (1898).The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume 4.Taylor and Francis, London. pp. 106–108.
  12. ^Abdulali, Humayun (1968)."The chick of the Red SpurfowlGalloperdix spadicea(Gmelin) ".J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.65(3): 774–775.
  13. ^abcdAli, S & SD Ripley (1980).Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Volume 2(2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 66–69.
  14. ^Abdulali, Humayun (1952)."An unrecorded feature of Spurfowl (Galloperdix) ".J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.50(3): 661–662.
  15. ^Tehsin, Raza H (1986)."Red Spurfowl (Galloperdix spadicea caurina) ".J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc.83(3): 663.
  16. ^Baylis HA (1936).The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Nematoda. Volume 1.Taylor and Francis, London. pp. 112–113.
  17. ^Rajagopalan PK, Sreenivasan MA, Anderson CR (1978). "Ixodid ticks of red spurfowls (Galloperdix spadicea spadicea) in the KFD area, Karnataka State ".Indian Journal of Medical Research.68:949–953.PMID220191.
  18. ^Singh, SN (1949). "Studies on the Helminth Parasites of Birds in Hyderabad State. Nematoda IV".Journal of Helminthology.23(1–2): 39–56.doi:10.1017/S0022149X00032363.S2CID250259567.
  19. ^Pugh GJF (1966). "Fungi on birds in India".J. Indian Bot. Soc.45:296–303.
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