| Syrmaticus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Mrs. Hume's pheasant (Syrmaticus humiae) female (left) and male | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Galliformes |
| Family: | Phasianidae |
| Tribe: | Phasianini |
| Genus: | Syrmaticus Wagler, 1832 |
| Type species | |
| Phasianus reevesii J.E. Gray, 1832 | |
| Species | |
Reeves's pheasant (S. reevesii) | |
ThegenusSyrmaticus contains the fivespecies oflong-tailed pheasants. The males have short spurs and usually red facialwattles, but otherwise differ wildly in appearance. The hens (females) and chicks of all the species have a rather conservative andplesiomorphic drab brown color pattern.[1]5species are generally accepted in this genus.[1]
The genus is occasionally included inPhasianus based onDNA sequence data, but this does not seem well warranted; the molecularevolution in this genus has been unusual and can easily misleadmolecular phylogenetic studies and makesmolecular clocks unreliable. At least in thecytochromeb sequencetransitions have outnumberedtransversions to an extent rarely seen in otherbirds. Transition-transversion frequencies inmtDNAcontrol region are by contrast more like those usually seen in birds, but this region of the mitochondrial genome has been evolving unusually slowly inSyrmaticus.[1]
Still, thephylogeny and evolution of the long-tailed pheasants can be considered resolved to satisfaction by now. It was long accepted that the three southeastern species—which all have bright white wing-bands of a type not found in any close relative and differ little except in the amount and concentration ofeumelanins in their plumage—form aclade. However, the two others are not as closely related to each other as was previously thought, representing two lineages that diverged independently from the main lineage instead of beingsister species. Consequently,Syrmaticus is sometimes restricted to Reeves's pheasant (S. reevesii) with the copper pheasant (S. soemmerringii) placed in a monospecific genus (Graphephasianus) and the three remaining species then transferred toCalophasis; as noted above, although this may eventually turn out to be warranted it is not well supported by the available evidence.[1]
OfLate Miocene origin, the genusSyrmaticus originated from some pheasant species inhabiting thesubmontane tomontanesubtropicalrainforest at the northwestern end of theHimalayas some 10-7million years ago (mya) during theTortonian – the genus is thus about as old asGallus. The original long-tailed pheasant (which probably did not have an overly elongated tail back then) diverged from the ancestors of thePhasianus pheasants, which subsequently expanded northwest acrosstemperateAsia[clarification needed] of the initial range ofSyrmaticus.[1]
Reeves's pheasant (S. reevesi) is probably derived from ancestral stock that remained in the general area of the genus' origin, adapting to the local conditions and evolving numerous peculiar maleapomorphies, such as the lack of facial wattles (which judging from their presence inPhasianus were present in the ancestralSyrmaticus too), the golden body plumage, the conspicuous head stripes or the immensely long tail.[1]
The ancestors of the remaining long-tailed pheasants separated from those of Reeve's pheasant perhaps as early as the latter Tortonian but probably rather some time during theMessinian. These birds spread – perhaps in response toecological changes brought about bya changing climate as the world turned into thelast ice age – coastwards and to the southwest into the hills and lowlands of easternIndochina and southeasternChina. Around theMiocene-Pliocene boundary, roughly 5.4 mya or so, the ancestors of thecopper pheasant (S. soemmerringii) separated from the mainland lineage and probably settledJapan at that time or soon thereafter.[1]
Perhaps the white wing-band was already present by that time; as the copper pheasant has a highlyapomorphic coloration with reducedsexual dimorphism, it may well have lost such a trait after it settled Japan. But it might also have evolved only after the copper pheasant ancestors had split from those of the species displaying the wing-band today. However that may be, the minor plumage differences of the wing-banded species suggest that their last common ancestor looked almost identical to the livingMrs. Hume's pheasant (S. humiae). At some point during the Pliocene – probably around 2.8 mya during thePiacenzian – the ancestors of theMikado pheasant (S. mikado) settledTaiwan, apparently during the period when that island separated from the mainland and alternated between being a peninsula and an island for some time. They were finally isolated no later than theLate Pliocene; the species ismelanistic, suggesting asmall founder population. The adjacent mainland population split into thesubtropical and partiallyleucisticElliot's pheasant (S. ellioti) and thetropical Mrs. Hume's pheasant only in theMiddle Pleistocene, around half a million years ago. This divergence was probably in some way connected to climate changes at theGünz-Mindel interglacial toMindel[2] boundary, when mountains in the region became dry and at times icebound. TheNanling Mountains region marks the present-day boundary between thesesister species and is not inhabited by either.[1]
| Common name | Scientific name and subspecies | Range | Size and ecology | IUCN status and estimated population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reeves's pheasant
Male
| Syrmaticus reevesii (Gray, JE, 1829) | China. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | VU |
| Copper pheasant
Male
| Syrmaticus soemmerringii (Temminck, 1830) Five subspecies
| Japan | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
| Mikado pheasant
Male
| Syrmaticus mikado (Ogilvie-Grant,, 1906) | Taiwan | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
| Elliot's pheasant
Male
| Syrmaticus ellioti (R. Swinhoe, 1872) | south-eastern China. | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
| Mrs. Hume's pheasant
Male
| Syrmaticus humiae (Hume, 1881) | China, India, Burma and Thailand | Size: Habitat: Diet: | NT |
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