help with Silver pheasant taxonomy Please!

[Hainan]

Hello everyone,

I have just started working on a pdf file, a conservation plan for the silver pheasant here on Hainan, where we got an endemic subspecies, this pdf file is meant to work as a base for the future conservation of the Hainan silver-pheasant, but as I also has to write a bit generally about the species, distribution, status and habitat conditions in other countries where its known to occur.

The part aim I most need of help is how each one of the different subspecies, live throughout the distribution.

Here is at least a start which I have manged to gather from different sources, but I would be tremendous happy if any one could tell me about any errors or if I have missed some place where the each subspecies occurs, new localities, range extentions or missed some subspecies for example.

So here it goes

Distribution

Lophura nycthemera nycthemera (Linnaeus, 1758): South China (Guangdong and Guangxi) and North-east Vietnam

Lophura nycthemera occidentalis (Delacour, 1948): South-central China (North-west Yunnan, west of Nujiang (Salween) River) and North-east Myanmar.

Lophura nycthemera rufipes (Oates, 1898): Northern Myanmar (Northern Shan states between Irrawaddy and Salween River), South-central China (South-west Yunnan, east of Nujiang River)

Lophura nycthemera ripponi (Sharpe, 1902): Northern Myanmar (southern Shan states, between Irrawaddy and Salween River)

Lophura nycthemera jonesi (Oates, 1903): South-central China (South-west Yunnan, Xishuangbanna between Nujiang and Lancang), North and central Thailand and Myanmar (southern Shan states, between Salween and Mekong River)

Lophura nycthemera omeiensis (Cheng, 1964): Central China (southern Sichuan)

Lophura nycthemera rongjiangensis (Tan and Wu, 1981): South-central China (South-east Guizhou)

Lophura nycthemera beaulieui (Delacour, 1948): South-central China (south Yunnan), North Laos and North-west Vietnam

Lophura nycthemera whiteheadi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899): South-east China (Hainan Island)

Lophura nycthemera fokiensis (Delacour, 1948): South-east China (Fujian and E Guangdong)

Lophura nycthemera berliozi (Delacour and Jabouiville, 1928): Central Vietnam (on western slopes of Annamitic Mt)

Lophura nycthemera beli (Oustalet, 1898): Central Vietnam (on eastern slopes of Annamitic Mt)

Lophura nycthemera engelbachi (Delacour, 1948): Southern Laos (Bolovens plateau)

Lophura nycthemera lewisi (Delacour and Jabouiville, 1928): South-east Thailand and South-west Cambodia

Lophura nycthemera annamensis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1906): Southern Vietnam

Lophura nycthemera lineata (Vigors, 1831): South-central Myanmar (east of Irrawaddy River), West and North-west Thailand

I would also be very happy if someone could give me a source on where to find a photo on these subspecies, otherwise a plumage description.

Say again that I would be tremendous grateful if anyone could help me B (:

[Tim Allwood]

Hey Hainan

I have ripponi in South Myanmar not north

nycthemera also in West Central Indochina

try OrientalBirdImages for pix

Tim

[Hainan]

Hey Hainan

I have ripponi in South Myanmar not north

nycthemera also in West Central Indochina

try OrientalBirdImages for pix

Tim

Hello Tim,

Yes I was thinking about listing ripponi for southern Myanmar, but I didnt now for sure, thanks

when you say west-central Indochina, could you perhaps specify it a bit more, exactly which countries or states, thanks again for you help.

How about the subspecies, crawfordi (or crawfurdi?), previous listed as a subspecies of the Kalij pheasant, but when I read more recent texts its listed as a subspecies of the silver pheasant, have I got that right?

[Tim Allwood]

crawfurdii was a subspecies of Kalij Pheasant but is now recognised to be a subspecies of Silver Pheasant

Tim

[cuckooroller]

And I have ripponi in EC Myanmar (E of R. Salween) – (Howard & Moore). To note that this stated range would seem to superimpose on the stated range (that part in Myanmar that is) for race jonesi (HBW).

N.B. If using HBW, their insistence on using the descriptive terminology “Northern Shan States, and Southern Shan States” is misleading. There is one Shan State, a bird ranging approximately in northern Shan State between the Irrawaddy and Salween would be a little bit to the north of Central Myanmar (but in NC Shan State), and a bird ranging in southern Shan State between the two mentioned rivers would be in Central Myanmar, or a little East of Central (but in SC Shan State).

I have race crawfurdii in SE Myanmar and SW Thailand.

HM 3° Ed. Range – for race jonesi: Extreme E Myanmar (Kengtung), S Yunnan and northernmost Thailand (south along Dong Phaya Fai range to NE Thailand).

Idem Sup. Op. Cit. – race omeiensis – in WC Sichuan.

Idem Sup. Op. Cit. – race rongjiangensis – S and W Guizhou

Race beaulieui – sources concord in specifying the Chinese portion of the range as being in SE Yunnan.

Race fokiensis –

HBW = SE China (NW Fujian and possibly Zhejiang)
HM = NW Fokien

Race berliozi –

HM gives me EC Laos and NC Vietnam

Race beli –

HM gives me WC Vietnam, and if I compare with the HBW ranges regarding which occurs on which slope of the Annamitic Mountains, there would appear to possibly be confusion here between the ranges of races berliozi and beli at least insofar as they occur in Vietnam.

Race lewisi –

The HM does not mention it ranging in Thailand

Race annamensis –

The HM gives me SC Vietnam

Race lineata – (the other race formerly associated with the Kalij Pheasant)

The HM gives me EC Myanmar (Karen Hills), extreme W Thailand

[Hainan]

Thanks steve

This put in a few gaps listed by me, makes it very much clearer for me now.

But still I have quite scarce info about the range of the nominate race, and I would be happy if someone could give some more specific info about that distribution as well, thanks. ;)

[Rasmus Boegh]

If this is intended for the scientific community I would recommend you follow the rules set forth in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN), in regards of taxa that were described under different names versus taxa that originally were described under the currectly used name. For example, Linnaeus originally described the nominate taxon as Phasianus nycthemera. Hence, it is correct to write his name and the year of the description in parentheses:

Lophura n. nycthemera (Linnaeus, 1758).

However, there are several other taxa in this species that originally were described under the name used today, hence:

wrong: Lophura nycthemera omeiensis (Cheng, 1964)
correct: Lophura nycthemera omeiensis Cheng, 1964

The situation is the same for the taxa occidentalis, rongjiangensis, beaulieui, fokiensis and engelbachi where the authors and year of description shouldn't be in parentheses.

[Hainan]

I have now throlled through the subspecies in search for a photo, picture of description, I have found it on some but a few stil remains

So if anyone out there knows of any photos, pictures or description of the following subspecies, then please tell me about it, maybe with a source or a simple decription.

Lophura nycthemera occidentalis

Lophura nycthemera rufipes

Lophura nycthemera ripponi

Lophura nycthemera jonesi

Lophura nycthemera omeiensis

Lophura nycthemera rongjiangensis

Lophura nycthemera beaulieui

Lophura nycthemera fokiensis

Lophura nycthemera beli

[Rasmus Boegh]

There's a photo of a male ssp. jonesi in HBW vol. 2. Do remember that photos of captives are notoriously unreliable when it comes to ID of races - even more so if collected from the internet. Surely, if you're doing work of the magnitude needed for this you must have access to or at very least be aware of the most basic books in regards of this family, right?

Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse by Madge & McGowan.
Handbook of the Bird of the World vol. 2; PHASIANIDAE chapter by McGowan.
Pheasants of the World by Johnsgard.
Pheasants of the World by Delacour.

In above you'll get descriptions of all races. The internet is good for many things, but notoriusly unreliable in other cases and (still) of pretty limited use when it comes to gathering serious data for scientific publications.

[Tim Allwood]

It might be worth contacting the World Pheasant Association (WPA) for slides etc...

Tim

[cuckooroller]

Yes, I also was wondering what text sources you already have? I don't know if I have anything useful in my photodatabase. Will look later tonight.

[Rasmus Boegh]

... perhaps useful, perhaps not - but at least it gives an easy overview: The map from the 2003 paper in Ibis where crawfurdi & lineata were re-classified.

[Rasmus Boegh]

Race lineata – (the other race formerly associated with the Kalij Pheasant)

That seems a bit odd, as the exact same paper (Moulin et al, 2003) that placed crawfurdi in L. leucomelanos presented comparable evidence for placing lineata in L. leucomelanos, too. Following one of them, but not the other... that's beyond my understanding. Either the evidence presented is good enough (in which case both would be moved to L. leucomelanos; Kalij Pheasant) or it is judged to be too poor due to e.g. sample size or bootstrap values (in which case both would be retainted in L. nycthemerus; Silver Pheasant). That's unless some new evidence has come to light of course. Perhaps above quote should have said "Silver" instead of "Kalij" (I know you mainly deal with scientific names)?

[cuckooroller]

That seems a bit odd, as the exact same paper (Moulin et al, 2003) that placed crawfurdi in L. leucomelanos presented comparable evidence for placing lineata in L. leucomelanos, too. Following one of them, but not the other... that's beyond my understanding. Either the evidence presented is good enough (in which case both would be moved to L. leucomelanos; Kalij Pheasant) or it is judged to be too poor due to e.g. sample size or bootstrap values (in which case both would be retainted in L. nycthemerus; Silver Pheasant). That's unless some new evidence has come to light of course. Perhaps above quote should have said "Silver" instead of "Kalij" (I know you mainly deal with scientific names)?

No, I meant what I said. I haven't seen the Moulin paper. My most dated source is Vol. 2 of HBW (1994). It mentions that a review is needed for races (here I am talking of the HBW Kalij Pheasant) oatesi, lineata, and crawfurdi (written here with one final -i-), and that forms east of the Irrawaddy are more closely related to some races of nycthemera than to other races of the present species (i.e. Kalij Pheasant) to the west of the Irrawaddy. It also mentioned that specific status had been proposed for race lineata.

My second most dated source is from 2000, and it is the Clement's 5°Ed. This list still collocates races lineata and crawfurdi with the Kalij Pheasant. I must mention that I do have a personal bias when I have to decide between the Clement's and the Howard & Moore, and almost always tend to believe the Howard & Moore to be the more correct when there are conflicting views.

The most current source is the Howard & Moore 2003, but pretty obviously it was put to bed pre-stamp sometime in late 2002 or early 2003, and I presume that the Moulin paper was not considered here. In any case, they (the Howard & Moore), left race oatesi with the Kalij Pheasant while mentioning (a piè pagina) that it is under review. They also moved the two races lineata and crawfurdii (written with two final - i -) into Lophura nycthemera (Silver Pheasant).

[cuckooroller]

Rasmus,
I just looked at your attachment and must admit that your point is well taken. If you have an electronically transmissible copy of the Moulin paper, could you send it on?

Did they happen to look at race oatesi?

[Hidde Bruinsma]

As has already been said, "The Pheasants of the World " by Jean Delacour and "Pheasants of the World" by Paul A. Johnsgard are the starting points for any study on any pheasant. Delacour's book also has some races depicted for which you're still searching:

Ruby Mines SP ("rufipes") male and female
Rippon's SP ("ripponi") male and female
Jones's SP ("jonesi") female
Lao SP ("beaulieui") male.

In my edition (the second revised of 1977) these illustrations are reproduced in black and white. I think the original edition of 1951 has them in colour.
A photograph of a (possible) female "jonesi" is to be found in "Pheasants of the World" by Keith Howman.

[Rasmus Boegh]

Rasmus,
I just looked at your attachment and must admit that your point is well taken. If you have an electronically transmissible copy of the Moulin paper, could you send it on?

Did they happen to look at race oatesi?

Nope, didn't treat oatesi, although purely looking at distributional data it would seen logical that it should be placed in L. leucomelanos if both lineata and crawfurdi are there. I'll send the paper.

[Hainan]

There's a photo of a male ssp. jonesi in HBW vol. 2. Do remember that photos of captives are notoriously unreliable when it comes to ID of races - even more so if collected from the internet. Surely, if you're doing work of the magnitude needed for this you must have access to or at very least be aware of the most basic books in regards of this family, right?

Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse by Madge & McGowan.
Handbook of the Bird of the World vol. 2; PHASIANIDAE chapter by McGowan.
Pheasants of the World by Johnsgard.
Pheasants of the World by Delacour.

In above you'll get descriptions of all races. The internet is good for many things, but notoriusly unreliable in other cases and (still) of pretty limited use when it comes to gathering serious data for scientific publications.


Well I have now been able to get my hands on the two following books
Pheasants, Partridges, and Grouse by Madge & McGowan and Pheasants of the World by Johnsgard.

As the book made by Delacour was a bit out of date I havent looked for it, but when I saw what Hidde wrote about it, I think its worth trying to locate a copy of that book as well, but the pdf isnt meant to be done until late October 06, so I still have some time in search for the Delacour book, probably rahter easy to find a second-hand copy at the internet, but if anyone knows about a place which sell it, then please inform me, as stated by Hidde, the 1951 copies probably was in colour so the older ones are prefered, thanks for everyones help, very useful.

[Khamsin]

I've been working on the systematics of Lophura pheasants for many years now and can provide you many photographs of study skins collected in the wild.

It should be clear however that Black Silver Pheasants- including lewisi, annamensis, engelbachi and beli are a distinct species unto themselves.

Crawfurdi and lineata are not silver pheasants but form their own semi-species complex with oatesi, cuvieri and williamsi- these are kalij pheasants.

Nuclear DNA of some Tennasirim crawfurdi reveal an ancient secondary contact zone with the Malay Crested Fireback.

Please contact me personally for more elucidation-
kermit@marlboro.edu