Elliot's pheasant
| Elliot's pheasant | |
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Scientific classification
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Genus: | Syrmaticus |
| Species: | S. ellioti
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| Binomial name | |
| Syrmaticus ellioti (R. Swinhoe,1872)
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| Synonyms[3] | |
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Elliot's pheasant(Syrmaticus ellioti) is a largepheasantnative to south-eastern China.
Description
[edit]Males are up to 80 cm (31 in) long; they are brown and white with a black throat, chestnut-brown upper parts, white belly, nape and wing bars, red bare facial skin and long rusty-barred whitish tail. Females are smaller, at 50 cm (20 in) long; they are rufous brown with a blackish throat, whitish belly and less barred tail.[4]
Distribution
[edit]Elliot's pheasant isendemicto south-easternChina(Guizhou,Hubei,Anhui,Zhe gian g,Fu gian,Jiangxi,Hunan,GuangxiandGuangdongprovinces), where it lives in evergreen and mountain forests at altitudes of 200–1,900 m (660–6,230 ft).[1]Its diet consists mainly of seeds, leaves and berries.[5]
Behaviour and ecology
[edit]Breeding
[edit]Members of this breed are solitary animals, with the males especially being territorial. The courtship ritual involves males offering food and displaying. The average clutch size is between six and eight eggs. Eggs take a little under four weeks to hatch, while juvenile birds take approximately four months to mature.[6]
Food and feeding
[edit]Wild pheasants forage for seeds, berries, leaves, and other similar plant matter. They have also been known to eat ants.[7]
Taxonomy
[edit]Elliot's pheasant wasfirst describedin 1872 byRobert Swinhoe,under the name "Phasianus ellioti";thetype materialwas fromNingbo,Zhe gian g province, China.[3][8]Thespecific epithetellioticommemorates theAmericanornithologistDaniel Giraud Elliot;[9][10]Swinhoe explained his choice thus:
- "Possessed of so many striking characteristics, it would be easy to find an appropriate name for so marked a species; but on glancing down the list of Pheasants I find that not one bears the name of Elliot; and it strikes me it would be wrong to allow his magnificent work on the subject to close without the figure of a bird dedicated to himself"[8]Alternativecommon namesfor the species includeChinese bar-backed pheasant[5]andChinese barred-backed pheasant.[1]
Conservation
[edit]Although there is ongoing habitat loss, and the species has a limited range and is hunted for food, Elliot's pheasant is evaluated asnear threatenedon theIUCN Red List of Threatened Species,as it does not appear to be declining appreciably in numbers.[1]It is listed on Appendix I ofCITES.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]
- ^abcdeBirdLife International (2016)."Syrmaticus ellioti".IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.2016:e.T22679325A92810598.doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679325A92810598.en.Retrieved12 November2021.
- ^"Appendices | CITES".cites.org.Retrieved2022-01-14.
- ^ab"Elliot's Pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) ".Pheasants and Partridges (Phasianidae).The Internet Bird Collection.RetrievedMay 9,2012.
- ^"Elliot's PheasantSyrmaticus ellioti".Species Factsheet.BirdLife International.RetrievedMay 9,2012.
- ^ab"Elliot's pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) ".ARKive.Archived fromthe originalon 2012-04-29.RetrievedMay 9,2012.
- ^Johnsgard 1999,p. 263.
- ^Johnsgard 1999,p. 262.
- ^abR. Swinhoe(1872)."Descriptions of two new Pheasants and a newGarrulaxfrom Ningpo, China ".Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London.40(1): 550–554.doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1872.tb07924.x.
- ^Bo Beolens; Michael Watkins & Michael Grayson (2009)."Elliot, D.".The Eponym Dictionary of Mammals.Johns Hopkins University Press.p. 124.ISBN9780801893049.
- ^James A. Jobling (2009).Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names.A&C Black.p. 145.ISBN9781408125014.
Bibliography
[edit]- Johnsgard, Paul A. (1999).The pheasants of the world: biology and natural history(2nd ed.). Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 262–264.ISBN978-1-56098-839-7.
External links
[edit]
Data related toSyrmaticus elliotiat Wikispecies- Elliot's Pheasant,gbwf.ord
