Pavo
Temporal range: Late Miocene to present
Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) displaying their tail
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Tribe: Pavonini
Genus: Pavo
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Pavo cristatus (Indian peafowl)
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
A white peafowl

Pavo is a genus of two species in the pheasant family. The two species, along with the Congo peafowl, are known as peafowl.

Taxonomy

The genus Pavo was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is the Latin word for a peacock.[2] The type species is the Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus).[3]

Species

The genus contains two species.[4]

Male Female Name Common name Distribution
Pavo cristatus Indian peafowl South Asia; introduced elsewhere
Pavo muticus Green peafowl Southeast Asia

Fossil record

In the Pliocene on the Balkan Peninsula, Bravard's peafowl coexisted with ptarmigans (Lagopus sp.)[6] Peafowl were widespread on the Balkan Peninsula and in Southeastern Europe until the end of the Pliocene.[7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Pavo.
  1. ^ Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 156.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 294. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 133.
  4. ^ Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Pheasants, partridges, francolins". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  5. ^ a b Mourer-Chauviré, Cécile (1989). "A peafowl from the Pliocene of Perpignan, France" (PDF). Palaeontology. 32 (2): 439 – via The Palaeontological Association.
  6. ^ Boev, Zlatorar (1998). "Peafowls (g. Pavo Linnaeus, 1758) and Ptarmigans (g. Lagopus Brisson, 1760): an [sic] unique coexistance in North Bulgaria over 3 m. y. ago". - Biogeographia, Nuova Serie, Siena, 19 – 1997: 219-222. doi:10.21426/B6110058
  7. ^ Boev, Z. 2002. Fossil record and disappearance of peafowl (Pavo Linnaeus) from the Balkan Peninsula and Europe (Aves: Phasianidae). – Historia naturalis bulgarica, 14: 109-115.

External links

Genera of landfowl and their extinct allies
Taxon identifiers
Categories