Junglefowl

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Temporal range: Late Miocene–recent
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 *Phasianus gallus*

**Junglefowl** are the only four living species of bird from the genus ***Gallus*** in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4 - 6 million years ago [1]

These are large birds, with colourful plumage in males, but are nevertheless difficult to see in the dense vegetation they inhabit.

As with many birds in the pheasant family, the male takes no part in the incubation of the egg or rearing of the precocial young. These duties are performed by the drab and well-camouflaged female. Females and males do not form pair bonds; instead, the species has a polygynandrous mating system in which each female will usually mate with several males. Aggressive social hierarchies exist among both females and males, from which the term "pecking order" originate.

The junglefowl are omnivorous, eating a variety of leaves, plant matter, invertebrates such as slugs and insects, and occasionally small mice and frogs.

One of the species in this genus, the red junglefowl, is of historical importance as the ancestor of the domesticated chicken, although the grey junglefowl is likely to be also involved.[2]

The Sri Lankan junglefowl is the national bird of Sri Lanka.

## Contents

* 1Taxonomy
	+ 1.1Extant species
* 2Fossils
* 3References

## Taxonomy[edit]

The genus *Gallus* was erected by the French scientist Mathurin Jacques Brisson in his *Ornithologie* published in 1760.[3] The type species is the red junglefowl (*Gallus gallus*).[4] The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus had introduced the genus *Gallus* in the 6th edition of his *Systema Naturae* published in 1748,[5] but Linnaeus dropped the genus in the important tenth edition of 1758 and put the red junglefowl together with the common pheasant in the genus *Phasianus*.[6][7] Both the red junglefowl and common pheasant diverged about 18 - 23 million years ago.[1] As the publication date of Linnaeus's sixth edition was before the 1758 starting point of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature, Brisson and not Linnaeus is considered as the authority for the genus.[8]

## Fossils[edit]

Prehistorically, the genus *Gallus* was found all over Eurasia; in fact, it appears to have evolved in southeastern Europe. Several fossil species have been described, but their distinctness is not firmly established in all cases:

* *Gallus aesculapii* (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene of Greece) - possibly belongs into *Pavo*
* *Gallus moldovicus* (Late Pliocene of Moldavia) - sometimes misspelt *moldavicus*, may be synonym of *Pavo bravardi*
* *Gallus beremendensis* (Late Pliocene/Early Pleistocene of Eastern Europe)
* Giant junglefowl *Gallus karabachensis* (Early Pleistocene of Nagorno-Karabakh)
* *Gallus tamanensis* (Early Pleistocene? of Taman Peninsula)
* *Gallus kudarensis* (Early/Middle Pleistocene of Kudaro, South Ossetia)
* *Gallus europaeus* (Middle Pleistocene of Italy)
* *Gallus* sp. (Middle/Late Pleistocene of Trinka Cave, Moldavia)
* *Gallus imereticus* (Late Pleistocene of Gvardjilas-Klde, Imeretia)
* *Gallus meschtscheriensis* (Late Pleistocene of Soungir, Russia)
* *Gallus georgicus* (Late Pleistocene - Early Holocene of Georgia)
* *Gallus* sp. (Late Pleistocene of Krivtcha Cave, Ukraine)
* *Gallus* sp. (Early Holocene of Dnieper region)

## References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:***a*** ***b***
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Categories:

* Extant Miocene first appearances
* Junglefowls