Szechenyi's monal-partridge (''Tetraophasis szechenyii'') or the buff-throated partridge, is a member of the family Phasianidae in the order

Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...

. They are endemic to western China.

Taxonomy

The common name, as well as the Latin binomial, of the Szechenyi's monal-partridge commemorates Graf Bela Szechenyi, a Hungarian explorer. Complete mitochondrial

genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...

of the species places the Szechenyi's monal-partridge in the

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 ...

Tetraophasis ''Tetraophasis'' is a genus of Galliformes in the family Phasianidae, which includes chickens, pheasants, partridges, grouse, turkeys, quail, and peafowl. It contains the following species: * Verreaux's monal-partridge (''Tetraophasis obscurus'' ...

in the family Phasianidae.

Phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

positioning of the Tetraophasis has been understudied, though there is strong support that it and genus

Lophophorus A monal is a bird of genus ''Lophophorus'' of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Description The males all have colorful, iridescent plumage. Their physique is rather plump. Their diet consists of plants such as roots and bulbs and insects. ...

are sister genera, forming a

subclade In genetics, a subclade is a subgroup of a haplogroup. Naming convention Although human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and Y chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) haplogroups and subclades are named in a similar manner, their names belong to completely separate sy ...

with

Tragopan ''Tragopan'' is a bird genus in the pheasant family Phasianidae. Member of the genus are commonly called "horned pheasants" because males have two brightly colored, fleshy horns on their head that can be erected during courtship displays. The ha ...

Description

The Szechenyi's monal-partridge is a sexually monochromatic, medium-sized species of partridge. It has a distinct orange horizontal teardrop shaped eye ring, a light gold

gorget A gorget , from the French ' meaning throat, was a band of linen wrapped around a woman's neck and head in the medieval period or the lower part of a simple chaperon hood. The term later described a steel or leather collar to protect the th ...

, as well as a crest that it can occasionally flare up. The species has a grey upper chest and speckled orange and grey belly. They are usually 29–50 cm in length and weigh between 660-1790g.

Distribution and Habitat

The Szechenyi's monal-partridge is endemic to the high mountains (3350–4600 m) of western China, and is distributed in southeastern

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, southern

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, western

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

and northwestern

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

. These birds mainly live in mixed coniferous

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' ...

, rhododendron shrubs,

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

thickets, alpine

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non- woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or arti ...

s, and rocky

ravine A ravine is a landform that is narrower than a canyon and is often the product of streambank erosion.Père David's owl (''Strix davidi'') and

tawny owl The tawny owl (''Strix aluco''), also called the brown owl, is commonly found in woodlands across Europe to western Siberia, and has seven recognized subspecies. It is a stocky, medium-sized owl, whose underparts are pale with dark streaks, a ...

s (''Strix aluco''). Mammalian predators include

leopard cat The leopard cat (''Prionailurus bengalensis'') is a small wild cat native to continental South, Southeast, and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List as it is widely distributed although threatened by hab ...

s (''Prionailurus bengalensis''),

Siberian weasel The Siberian weasel or kolonok (''Mustela sibirica''), is a medium-sized weasel native to Asia, where it is widely distributed and inhabits various forest habitats and open areas. It is therefore listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Desc ...

s (''Mustela sibirica'') and

mountain weasel The mountain weasel (''Mustela altaica''), also known as the pale weasel, Altai weasel or ''solongoi'', primarily lives in high-altitude environments, as well as rocky tundra and grassy woodlands. This weasel rests in rock crevices, tree trunks, ...

s (''Mustela altaica'').

Behavior

Diet: The Szechenyi's monal-partridge's diet consists mainly of leaves,

root In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...

s, stems, bulbs,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s and

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s of various herbs and scrubs, as well as some moss and in some areas near local

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, the residing

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s sometimes feed them

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

and corn. Supplementary feeding from the monks on the Tibetan

sacred site Sacred space, sacred ground, sacred place, sacred temple, holy ground, or holy place refers to a location which is deemed to be sacred or hallowed. The sacredness of a natural feature may accrue through tradition or be granted through a bless ...

have shown beneficial effects for these partridges. Fed breeding groups experienced earlier laid first

clutches A clutch is a mechanical device that engages and disengages power transmission, especially from a drive shaft to a driven shaft. In the simplest application, clutches connect and disconnect two rotating shafts (drive shafts or line shafts) ...

, increasing their opportunity to re-nest in case of failed clutches, as well as increased clutch and egg sizes compared against non-fed groups. Groups who finish breeding season early have more time to

molt In biology, moulting (British English), or molting (American English), also known as sloughing, shedding, or in many invertebrates, ecdysis, is the manner in which an animal routinely casts off a part of its body (often, but not always, an outer ...

and recover fat reserves before winter, giving them a greater chance of survival during the harsher months. Breeding: The Szechenyi's monal-partridge is one of the few galliformes that participate in

cooperative breeding Cooperative breeding is a social system characterized by alloparental care: offspring receive care not only from their parents, but also from additional group members, often called helpers. Cooperative breeding encompasses a wide variety of group s ...

, and breed from April to June. Surveys suggest that these partridges are monogamous or polygynous. A single family unit consists of a main breeding pair, and can often have one to three typically male helpers, though they can be female, that will aid in protecting territory. The partridges usually nest in scrapes in the soil lined with leaves, sticks and bark at the base of a tree or scrub. The breeding female normally lays 3-4 eggs and are incubated for about four weeks. During incubation, the breeding female will incubate eggs exclusively away from the rest of the group, while the breeding male and helpers will either spend their time

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behavi ...

or guarding the area around the nest. After the eggs hatch, all members of the family unit, including the newly hatched

precocial In biology, altricial species are those in which the young are underdeveloped at the time of birth, but with the aid of their parents mature after birth. Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the mome ...

chicks, will forage together during the day, but the breeding female and chicks will still keep their distance until they are over 15 days old. All adult members experience brooding, vigilance, and territorial behavior, with the helpers focusing especially on fighting during territorial display after the chicks hatch, defending their territory from helpers in rival family units. Breeding males rarely display fighting behavior and females will never participate in fighting. These family groups remain stable during the breeding season, and exhibit low rates of individual disappearance. Individual disappearance increase during the winter, but are most frequent among the young. Roosting: The Szechenyi's monal-partridge not only participate in cooperative breeding, but they also engage in

communal roosting Communal roosting is an animal behavior where a group of individuals, typically of the same species, congregate in an area for a few hours based on an external signal and will return to the same site with the reappearance of the signal. Environment ...

at night for the benefits of reduced

thermoregulatory Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

costs and decreased

predation Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

risk. Before sunset, the family unit will move slowly and quietly to their roost sites. Once they arrive at the roosting site, usually a large fir tree, some members remain on the lookout while others preen their feathers. As sunset approaches, the birds will bob their necks as they prepare for their ascent. Barring the incubation period and the first couple weeks after the eggs hatch where the breeding pair stays separated, the partridges will roost together in linear huddles on a single branch close to the tree trunk usually up 7m high. Females with chicks will usually wait for more than 15 days before joining the males in the huddle, since it is difficult for chicks to fly up into the tree. Females and their chicks will instead brood under dense undergrowth until they are ready to fly up to the branches. Due to the nature of a linear huddle, the communal roosting benefits are unlikely to be acquired equally by all birds. The breeding male is usually the first to enter the roosting tree, with the helpers going up last, occupying the outermost positions. Females never have a consistent timing with entering the roost. The partridges will always enter the roost one by one, never simultaneously. Once the chicks are ready to join the roost, they are squeezed into the middle, where it is the warmest and safest. Once settled in their selected positions in the linear huddle, they will face downward and hold that position until morning unless the birds are disturbed, in which case they abandon the roost by gliding away. When temperatures drop, in order to minimize heat loss, Szechenyi's monal-partridges will perch earlier and depart from the roost later in the day. They may also reduce their general level of activity as well on colder days. These birds will generally gather the minimum amount of resources needed to survive overnight, and save energy by remaining inactive for a longer amount of time.

Conservation Status

Even though this species is in the Least Concern category by the current IUCN Red List; under the Red Book of China, it is currently considered as endangered and listed in Category I of the nationally protected animals. With Sichuan and Yunnan rapidly modernizing since the mid 70s, deforestation needs to be studied as a potential threat to this species. Logging companies have been clearing large areas of natural forest, with most of the trees being firs and spruce firs, which act as roosting sites for the Szechenyi's monal-partridge. In order to focus on conservation efforts for the Szechenyi's monal-partridge, more information on the species’ ecology and habitat use is needed. This information is fundamental to determine its conservation status.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:monal-partridge, Szechenyi's Szechenyi's monal-partridge Szechenyi's monal-partridge Taxonomy articles created by Polbot