The silver pheasant ( Lophura nycthemera) is a species of pheasant found in forests, mainly in mountains, of mainland Southeast Asia and eastern and southern China. It is introduced on Victoria Island in Nahuel Huapi Lake, Neuquén, Argentina and on Vancouver Island, Canada. The male is black and white, while the female is mainly brown. Both sexes have a bare red face and red legs (the latter separating it from the greyish-legged kalij pheasant).[
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Taxonomy
The silver pheasant was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other pheasants in the genus Phasianus and coined the binomial name Phasianus nycthemerus. He specified the type locality as China.[ but is now one of 11 species placed in the genus Lophura that was introduced in 1822 by the Scottish naturalist John Fleming.]
The silver pheasant is closely related to the kalij pheasant and the two are known to hybridize.[MacKinnon, J., & K. Phillipps (2000). A Field Guide to the Birds of China. Oxford University Press. ] The placement of the taxa L. n. lineata and L. n. crawfurdi has been a matter of dispute, with some treating them as subspecies of the kalij pheasant[McGowan, P. J. K. (1994). Kalij Pheasant ( Lophura leucomelanos). pp. 533 in: del Hoyo, J, A. Elliott, & J. Sargatal (1994). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Edicions. ] and others as subspecies of the silver pheasant.[McGowan, P. J. K., A. L. Panchen (1994). Plumage variation and geographical distribution in the Kalij and Silver Pheasants. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 114: 113-123.] They have greyish legs as in the kalij pheasant, but their plumage is closer to that of some subspecies of the silver pheasant. Additionally, as the silver pheasant, L. n. lineata and L. n. crawfurdi are found east of the Irrawaddy River, a major zoogeographic barrier, while all other subspecies of the kalij pheasant are found west of the river ( L. n. oatesi, a subspecies of the kalij pheasant, has sometimes been reported as occurring east of that river,[ but this is incorrect][Robson, C. (2000). A Field Guide to the Birds of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers. ]). Based on mtDNA, it was recently confirmed that L. n. lineata and L. n. crawfurdi should be regarded as subspecies of the kalij pheasant.[Moulin, S., E. Randi, C. Tabarroni, & A. Hennache (2003). Mitochondrial DNA diversification among the subspecies of the silver and kalij pheasants, Lophura nycthemera and L. leucomelanos, Phasianidae. Ibis 145: E1-E11]
With these two as subspecies of the kalij pheasant, the silver pheasant has 15 subspecies.[Clements, J. F. (2007). The Clements Checklist of the Birds of the World. 6th edition. Christopher Helm. ][Dickinson, E. C. Eds. (2003). The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd edition. Christopher Helm. ] However, while some subspecies are relatively distinctive, several others (at least L. n. rufipes, L. n. occidentalis, L. n. ripponi, L. n. jonesi, L. n. beaulieui, L. n. nycthemera, and L. n. fokiensis) are likely part of a cline,[ which if confirmed, would result in them being of the nominate subspecies. Several other taxa, for example L. n. andersoni, are now considered invalid by all major authorities.][
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Once considered a very rare species, the imperial pheasant is actually a naturally occurring hybrid between the silver pheasant and Edward's pheasant.[Hennache, A., P. Rasmussen, V. Lucchini, S. Rimondi, & E. Randi (2003). Hybrid origin of the imperial pheasant Lophura imperialis (Delacour and Jabouille, 1924) demonstrated by morphology, hybrid experiments, and DNA analyses. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 80(4): 573-600.]
Subspecies
Fifteen subspecies are recognised:[
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L. n. omeiensis Cheng T & Chang C & Tang R, 1964 – central, south Sichuan (central south China)
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L. n. rongjiangensis Tan Y & Wu Z, 1981 – southeast Guizhou (central south China)
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L. n. nycthemera (Carl Linnaeus, 1758) – Guangxi, Guangdong (south China) and northeast Vietnam
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L. n. fokiensis Delacour, 1948 – northwest Fokien (southeast China)
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L. n. whiteheadi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1899) – Hainan (south China)
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L. n. occidentalis Delacour, 1948 – northwest Yunnan (southwest China) and northeast Myanmar
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L. n. rufipes (Oates, 1898) – southwest Yunnan (southwest China) and central north Myanmar
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L. n. jonesi (Oates, 1903) – east Myanmar to south China and north Thailand
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L. n. ripponi (Sharpe, 1902) – central east Myanmar
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L. n. beaulieui Delacour, 1948 – southwest Yunnan (central south China), north Laos and northwest Vietnam
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L. n. berliozi (Delacour & Pierre Jabouille, 1928) – central north Vietnam
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L. n. beli (Oustalet, 1898) – central west Vietnam
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L. n. annamensis (Ogilvie-Grant, 1906) – central south Vietnam
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L. n. lewisi (Delacour & Jabouille, 1928) – southwest Cambodia and southeast Thailand
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L. n. engelbachi Delacour, 1948 – south Laos
Description
This is a relatively large pheasant, with males of the largest subspecies having a total length of , including a tail up to , while the males of the smallest subspecies barely reach in total length, including a tail around .[ The body mass of males can range from .][ CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses by John B. Dunning Jr. (Editor). CRC Press (1992), .] Females of all subspecies are notably smaller than their respective males, with a size range of in total length, including a tail of .[[1] (2011).][[2] (2011).] The body mass of females can range from .
Males of the northern subspecies, which are the largest, have white upperparts and tail (most feathers with some black markings), while their underparts and crest are glossy bluish-black. The males of the southern subspecies have greyer upperparts and tail with extensive black markings, making them appear far darker than the northern subspecies.[ The adult male plumage is reached in the second year.][
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Females are brown and shorter-tailed than males. Females of some subspecies have whitish underparts strongly patterned with black, and in L. n. whiteheadi this extends to the upper mantle.[
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