Swierstra's spurfowl (''Pternistis swierstrai'') 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 lightweigh ...

in the family

Phasianidae The Phasianidae are a family (biology), family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Turkey bird, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular Game (hunti ...

. It is found only in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

in the rapidly shrinking

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions ...

forests of peaks such as

Mount Moco Mount Moco (Portuguese: ), at , is the highest mountain in Angola. It is located in Huambo Province in the western part of the country, west of the city of Huambo.''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 754. Mount Moco was ...

and Mount Soque. 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

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s. It is threatened by

habitat loss 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 ...

. The scientific name commemorates the South African entomologist Cornelis Jacobus Swierstra.

Taxonomy

Swierstra's spurfowl was described in 1929 by the South African zoologist

Austin Roberts Austin Roberts may refer to: * Austin Roberts (American football) (born 1995), American football tight end *Austin Roberts (singer) (born 1945), American singer and songwriter *Austin Roberts (zoologist) Austin Roberts (3 January 1883 – 5 May ...

from a specimen that had been collected in Mombola, Angola. He coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Chaetopus swierstrai'', choosing the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

to honour the South African entomologist Cornelis Jacobus Swierstra. The species is now placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

'' Pternistis'' that was introduced by the German naturalist

Johann Georg Wagler Johann Georg Wagler (28 March 1800 – 23 August 1832) was a German herpetologist and ornithologist. Wagler was assistant to Johann Baptist von Spix, and gave lectures in zoology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich after it was moved ...

in 1832. Swierstra's spurfowl is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

: no

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognised.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
Swierstra's spurfowl Endemic birds of Angola Swierstra's spurfowl Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub