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[> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Green Peafowl Species
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Author:
k
[Edit]
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Date Posted: 13:06:43 02/08/07 Thu
This is how the Green Peafowl forms are described currently:
Pavo muticus (species)and then the second name in this instance, imperator (subspecies).
Now here is how the Silver Pheasant forms are described currently:
Lophura nycthemera (species) and then the second name, in this instance, annamensis (subspecies).
Anyone at all interested in systematics of any galliform bird really should investigate the Lophura pheasants.
Each major species clade is an ecological species. The same can be said for Pavo peafowls. That said, Green Peafowl are ~2 million years older than Lophura pheasants, and while each green peafowl is superficially similar especially in phenotypey, each geographic form represents another ancient branch in an even older tree rooted in the antiquity of the first Galliform birds. Lophura pheasants are derived of later and still very ancient branches but they are derived of extinct genera that evolved from one of the older branchings. Peafowl are a surviving tree of their own.
Getting back on task here, in my opinion and based on academic dedication to objective facts-the Annametic silver pheasant described above as Lophura nycthemera annamensis is actually its own species. It would be written up as Lophura annamensis. All other black silver pheasants of the Annametic Mountain range would thus be sister species of annamensis or subspecific races of the same species.
The Cambodian Black Silver or " Lewis's" for example, would be Lophura lewisi as it is an isolated form with no contact with any other White silver, Black Silver, Kalij or Fireback pheasant species. The Boloven or " Engelbach's " black silver would be a sister species of annamensis: Lophura annamensis engelbachii.
Getting back to peafowls- what Delacour described as Pavo muticus imperator is actually a bit more complex.
Those ecological species of green peafowl that inhabit broadleaf evergreen habitats ( a prehistoric forest type defined as refugia or relictual forest biomes) would be theoretically described as a single species: Pavo annamensis. The Elephant Mountain form might be its own species as it is isolated and unique in voice, behaviors and phenotype. Bokorensis would thus be listed as Pavo bokorensis a closely allied species of the Boloven Plateau form Pavo annamensis annamensis.
These different forms of green peafowl are not Delacour's imperator just as the Black silvers are not White Silvers.
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