Pavo (bird) explained

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]

Fossil record

• Pavo bravardi (Bravard's peafowl) (Early – Late Pliocene) – Gallus moldovicus, sometimes misspelt moldavicus, may be a junior synonym
• Gallus aesculapii, a Late Miocene – Early Pliocene "junglefowl" of Greece, may also have been a peafowl^[5]

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]

External links

• White Peacocks Information

Notes and References

1. Book: Linnaeus, Carl . Carl Linnaeus . 1758 . Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis . 1 . 10th . 156 . Laurentii Salvii . Holmiae (Stockholm) . Latin .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 294 .
3. Book: Peters . James Lee . James L. Peters . 1934 . Check-List of Birds of the World . 2 . Harvard University Press . Cambridge, Massachusetts . 133 .
4. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . July 2021 . Pheasants, partridges, francolins . IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 . International Ornithologists' Union . 23 August 2021 .
5. Mourer-Chauviré . Cécile . 1989 . A peafowl from the Pliocene of Perpignan, France . Palaeontology . 32 . 2 . 439 . The Palaeontological Association.
6. Boev, Zlatorar (1998). "Peafowls (g. Pavo Linnaeus, 1758) and Ptarmigans (g. Lagopus Brisson, 1760): an unique coexistance in North Bulgaria over 3 m. y. ago". - Biogeographia, Nuova Serie, Siena, 19 – 1997: 219-222.
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.