The crestless fireback (''Lophura erythrophthalma'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in the family Phasianidae. It is found in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat destruction Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of nat ...

has assessed its conservation status as being critically endangered.

Description

Male crestless firebacks are about in length and females slightly smaller. The face has bare red skin, the bill is greenish in males and black in females, there is no crest, the legs are bluish-grey, with long spurs in males and short spurs in females. The tail is short and either rounded, or the central feathers are shorter than the outer ones. The male has purplish-black plumage, with white vermiculation on the mantle and back, the wings and the side of the breast. The rump is bright chestnut and the upper tail coverts are purple with maroon margins. The tail feathers are cinnamon with black bases. The female crestless fireback is almost completely black with a blue or green gloss and was for some time considered to be a separate species. The head is brownish, paling to nearly white on the throat. Juveniles resemble females but have pale-edged feathers, and young males develop chestnut rumps quite soon. The female is very similar in appearance to the male

Salvadori's pheasant Salvadori's pheasant (''Lophura inornata'') is a landfowl bird of genus '' Lophura'', native to Indonesia. It is found in the mountain rainforests of Sumatra. Thus it is also known as the Sumatran pheasant. The Hoogerwerf's pheasant is usually ...

(''Lophura inornata'') which 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 ...

to Sumatra, but that species tends to inhabit forests at higher altitudes.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies ''L. e. erythrophthalma'' is found in mainland Malaysia and Sumatra while ''L. e. pyronota'' occurs in Borneo. The male of the latter subspecies is a greyer bird, with black and white vermiculations, and steel blue upper tail coverts. The crestless fireback is a shy bird and seldom seen; it inhabits undergrowth in lowland rainforests, and also secondary growth forest in Malaysia, up to altitudes of about .

Ecology

The crestless fireback is a retiring bird and has been little studied. It mostly occurs in pairs or small groups. It lives on the ground among undergrowth and feeds during the day by scratching up the leaf litter and eating the small animals exposed, as well as feeding on vegetable matter and fallen fruit. It breeds in captivity, and a nest recorded in the wild was between the buttress roots of a large tree and contained a clutch of four or five pink or pale buff eggs. The breeding season is from April to June and the gestation period lasts 24 days.

Status

The species is uncommon, with a moderate-sized range and a patchy distribution. Its natural habitat is lowland evergreen virgin forest, including peat forest and karst forest. These habitats are increasingly being cleared and the population of the bird is thought to be decreasing. However, it has also been observed in partially logged secondary forest in both Malaysia and Sumatra, and has been recorded there at densities of six birds per square kilometre. Besides this, some birds live in protected areas of forest. The

estimates there may be a total of between ten and twenty thousand mature individuals and has assessed the bird's conservation status as critically endangered. Clements and the IUCN has split into both species while the IOC has left all subspecies intact.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q899732

crestless fireback The crestless fireback (''Lophura erythrophthalma'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened ...

Birds of the Malay Peninsula Birds of Sumatra

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot