The Bornean peacock-pheasant (''Polyplectron schleiermacheri'') is a medium-sized

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

. It is probably the rarest and certainly the least known of all peacock-pheasants. This elusive bird is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

lowland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

forests of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and ea ...

Description

The pheasant is up to 50 cm long, rufous brown and black spotted, with an elongated crest and nape feathers, black below and bare red skin around bluish

iris Iris most often refers to: *Iris (anatomy), part of the eye *Iris (mythology), a Greek goddess * ''Iris'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants * Iris (color), an ambiguous color term Iris or IRIS may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional ent ...

eye. The breast sides are metallic blue-green, bordering the white throat and central upper breast. Its twenty-two tail feathers are decorated with large blue-green

ocelli A simple eye (sometimes called a pigment pit) refers to a form of eye or an optical arrangement composed of a single lens and without an elaborate retina such as occurs in most vertebrates. In this sense "simple eye" is distinct from a multi-l ...

, which may be spread fan-like in display. The female is smaller and duller brown than the male. It has a brown iris and no spurs on its feet.

Taxonomy

Together with the phenotypically similar

Malayan peacock-pheasant The Malayan peacock-pheasant (''Polyplectron malacense'') also known as crested peacock-pheasant or Malaysian peacock-pheasant, is a medium-sized pheasant of the galliform family Phasianidae. The closely related Bornean peacock-pheasant (''P. ...

and

Palawan peacock-pheasant The Palawan peacock-pheasant (''Polyplectron napoleonis'') is a medium-sized (up to 50 cm long) bird in the family Phasianidae. It is featured prominently in the culture of the indigenous people of Palawan. The bird is also depicted in t ...

it represents a basal group in its

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

; their radiation probably took place during the

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58molecular clock The molecular clock is a figurative term for a technique that uses the mutation rate of biomolecules to deduce the time in prehistory when two or more life forms diverged. The biomolecular data used for such calculations are usually nucleo ...

calibration method used by Kimball ''et al.'' (2001) is now known to be inappropriate, yielding far too low estimates in galliform birds. Being very poorly known, the Bornean peacock-pheasant was long considered to be a subspecies of the Malayan peacock-pheasant, but the two species are well-isolated geographically. The highly specialised anterior breast and upper neck plumage of male Bornean peacock-pheasant males are quite distinctive. Females of the two species are more difficult to distinguish. The rectrices of the Bornean species are morphologically and patterned intermediate between Palawan and Malayan peacock-pheasants.

Status and conservation

Because of ongoing habitat loss, small population size, and limited range, the Bornean peacock-pheasant is evaluated as

Endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and in ...

on the

IUCN Red List 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 biol ...

of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II 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 ...

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet

Red Data Book
* gbwf.org �

{{Taxonbar, from=Q835098 Polyplectron Endemic birds of Borneo Birds described in 1877