Malayan peacock-pheasant

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Malayan peacock-pheasant
Adult male displaying(Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens)
CITES Appendix II (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Polyplectron
Species:
P. malacense
Binomial name
Polyplectron malacense
(Scopoli, 1786)
Synonyms

Pavo malacensis Scopoli, 1786
Polyplectron bicalcaratum (non Linnaeus, 1758:

preoccupied)[verification needed
]
Polyplectron malacense malacense (Scopoli, 1786)

The Malayan peacock-pheasant (Polyplectron malacense)

monotypic.[4]

Description

Head of adult male

It is one of the shortest-tailed peacock-pheasants. Adult males are about 50 cm long, about half of which is made up by the tail. Their tarsus measures approximately 6.5 cm, and their wings are 20–21 cm long; they weigh from over 600 to nearly 700 g.[5]

The female is slightly smaller than the male, with a noticeably shorter tail; measuring about 40 cm overall, its tail is slightly less than 20 cm long, while its tarsus measures c.6 cm and its wing length is 18 cm. Adult females weigh about 450-550 g.[6]

Plumage

Their plumage is generally pale brown with small black spots and bands all over, creating the "salt-and-pepper" effect found in most

rectrices, a white throat running down to the center of the breast, and a loose, pointed and upturned dark blue-green crest on its forehead. A bare facial skin surrounds the eyes with their bluish-white iris; usually pink, it becomes bright orange-red during courtship. The bill and legs are blackish.[7]

Female plumage is duller than in males, with a vestigial crest and eyespots only on

wing coverts and back, they have dark dots instead, which are pointed towards the feather tip.[8]

Young birds resemble females but have even less-developed eyespots and usually lack them entirely except on the rectrices. The

downy hatchlings are pale chestnut-brown above and buff below.[9]

Systematics

sequence data places the Malayan peacock-pheasant within the basal radiation of its genus, together with the even more elusive Bornean peacock-pheasant (P. schleiermacheri) – and Palawan peacock-pheasant (P. napoleonis). The common ancestor of the Malay peacock-pheasants probably diverged from its relatives during the Pliocene[10] or maybe Late Miocene, about 5 million years ago (Ma) perhaps.[11]

When the lineages of

last ice age's interglacials, whereas the more advanced Polyplectron species are limited to today's mainland Southeast Asia.[11]

Ecology

A shy and elusive bird, the Malay peacock-pheasant is

territorial, but the ranges of several birds probably overlap except for the core areas. Males move about in an area of approximately 10–60 hectares, while the ranges of females are half that size. The average population density in suitable habitat is estimated as slightly less than seven adult birds per square kilometer.[9]

It inhabits mainly

stone oaks, Lithocarpus). Other items found in Malay peacock-pheasant stomachs were probably not ingested deliberately; they include moss, twigs, rootlets and part of an Apocynaceae flower.[9]

Adult male's mantle feathers with their eyespots and "salt-and-pepper" pattern

Reproduction

While captive Malay peacock-pheasants may sometimes appear to

rectrices. These behaviors are likewise used in self-defense. When utilised in pair-bonding behavior copulation may occur subsequent to lateral displays. Anterior displays are also performed which may include curious clicking and vibrating pulsations of feather quills created via stridulation.[11]

Aviculturists report that the males' contribution to reproduction ends after

Incubation takes probably 22–23 days. The species is not infrequently bred in zoos.[9]

Status and conservation

Due to ongoing

CITES Appendix II.[4]

Deforestation is the main threat for this species, and has rendered more than half of the places where it was found in the 1970s unsuitable for it. The available habitat has even declined by over three-quarters during that time, indicating that the population – estimated at about 8,000 adults as of 2008 – is close to the maximum possible, as less and less suitable forest is not inhabited by P. malacense. It used to be hunted for food or as a trophy, but compared to deforestation these threats are nearly insignificant nowadays.[4]

While a small amount of

Department of Wildlife and National Parks of Malaysia is preparing a captive breeding program to bolster the population in reserves and prevent inbreeding depression by release of captive-bred birds.[4]

Footnotes

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2022). "Polyplectron malacense". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022: e.T22679385A137837773. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  2. ^ "Appendices". CITES. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  3. S2CID 216448121
    . Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d McGowan (1994), BLI (2008)
  5. ^ McGowan (1994, 1998), Kimball et al. (2001)
  6. ^ McGowan (1994, 1998)
  7. ^ McGowan (1994, 1998), Kimball et al. (2001)
  8. ^ McGowan (1994, 1998)
  9. ^ a b c d McGowan (1994)
  10. ^ a b The estimate of divergence times in Kimball et al. (2001) is probably too low, as they use an uncalibrated and outdated molecular clock that is not well-suited for large-bodied birds.
  11. ^ a b c McGowan (1994), Kimball et al. (2001)
  12. ^ Campanotus is a lapsus in McGowan (1994)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Polyplectron malacense.
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