Elliot's pheasant (''Syrmaticus ellioti''), is a large
pheasant native to south-eastern China.
Description
Males are up to 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 long; they are rufous brown with a blackish throat, whitish belly and less barred tail.
Distribution
Elliot's pheasant is
endemic to south-eastern
China (
Guizhou,
Hubei
Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...
,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
,
Zhejiang,
Fujian,
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into ...
,
Hunan,
Guangxi and
Guangdong provinces), where it lives in evergreen and mountain forests at altitudes of .
Its diet consists mainly of seeds, leaves and berries.
Taxonomy
Elliot's pheasant was
first described in 1872 by
Robert Swinhoe
Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him.
Bio ...
, under the name "''Phasianus ellioti''"; the
type material
In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...
was from
Ningpo
Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...
, Zhejiang province, China.
The
specific epithet ' commemorates the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
ornithologist
Daniel Giraud Elliot;
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"
Alternative
common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...
s for the species include Chinese bar-backed pheasant
and Chinese barred-backed pheasant.
Conservation
Although there is ongoing habitat loss, and the species has a limited range and is hunted for food, Elliot's pheasant is evaluated as ''
near threatened
A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...
'' on the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...
, as it does not appear to be declining appreciably in numbers.
It is listed on Appendix I of
CITES
CITES (shorter name for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention) is a multilateral treaty to protect endangered plants and animals from the threats of interna ...
.
See also
*
List of endangered and protected species of China
References
External links
*
Elliot's Pheasant gbwf.ord
{{Taxonbar , from=Q285477
Elliot's pheasant
Elliot's pheasant (''Syrmaticus ellioti''), is a large pheasant native to south-eastern China.
Description
Males are up to long; they are brown and white with a black throat, chestnut-brown upper parts, white belly, nape and wing bars, red bar ...
Birds of South China
Endemic birds of China
Elliot's pheasant
Elliot's pheasant (''Syrmaticus ellioti''), is a large pheasant native to south-eastern China.
Description
Males are up to long; they are brown and white with a black throat, chestnut-brown upper parts, white belly, nape and wing bars, red bar ...