Double-banded Argus: Difference between revisions
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#REDIRECT [[Great argus]] |
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{{Taxobox |
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| name = Double-banded Argus |
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| status = EX |
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| status_system = iucn3.1 |
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| regnum = [[Animal]]ia |
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| phylum = [[Chordata]] |
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| classis = [[Aves]] |
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| ordo = [[Galliformes]] |
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| familia = [[Phasianidae]] |
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| genus = ''[[Argusianus]]'' |
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| species = '''''A. bipunctatus''''' |
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| binomial = ''Argusianus bipunctatus'' |
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| binomial_authority = Wood, 1871 |
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}} |
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A mysterious [[pheasant]], the '''Double-banded Argus''', '''''Argusianus bipunctatus''''', is known only from the portion of a single primary [[flight feather]]. It was described in 1871 from this feather piece, found in a [[millinery]] shipment imported to [[London]]. |
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Its origin was hypothesized to be from [[Java (island)|Java]], [[Indonesia]] or [[Tioman Island]] of [[Malaysia]], because of the Great Argus' absence from these locations. Parkes (1992) vehemently rejected the "[[species]]" validity and argued that the Double-banded Argus almost certainly represents a [[mutant]] form of the [[Great Argus]]. The [[IUCN]], following the [[precautionary principle]], lists this [[taxon]] as [[extinct]]. |
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While the feather is indeed quite distinct, it represents a fairly simple divergence: The entirely asymmetrically-pattern vanes are instead near-symmetrical and both bear the darker brown shaftward area with innumerable whitish speckles. The shaft is thinner than usual and the feather would probably not have been useful for flight. |
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Nothing similar has come to notice ever since, and as the feather piece is not a composite of two feather halves glued together but a natural (albeit peculiar) specimen, a hoax or fake can be ruled out. Nonetheless all conjecture that has been built around the feather piece, all that can be said is that at some time around [[1870]] an argus pheasant was shot in an unknown location which bore at least one such feather. Even if this one known individual was the last remnant of a disappearing population, it is hard to believe that only a single feather would have been taken from an unusual specimen of a well-known, often-hunted, and conspicuous bird, and that this single feather would have been then transported elsewhere, to be bundled into a shipment of perfectly normal Great Argus feathers. |
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The feather is now housed in the [[British Natural History Museum]]. A photo of the specimen is in Fuller (2000:111). |
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==See also== |
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* [[Bogotá Sunangel]] |
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* [[Hooded Seedeater]] |
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== References == |
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* {{IUCN2006|assessors={{aut|BirdLife International}}|year=2004|id=40125|title=Argusianus bipunctatus|downloaded=11 May 2006}} Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as extinct |
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* {{aut|Fuller, Errol}} (2000): ''Extinct Birds'' (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York. <small>ISBN 0198508379</small> |
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* {{aut|Parkes', K. S.}} (1992): [Review of] "Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world". ''Journal of Field Ornithology'' '''63'''(2): 228-235. [http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/JFO/v063n02/p0217-p0240.pdf PDF fulltext] |
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* {{aut|Shuker, Karl}} (1999): ''Mysteries of Planet Earth.'' Carlton Books, London. <small>ISBN 1-85868-679-2</small> |
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== External links == |
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* [http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=30070&m=0 BirdLife Species Factsheet] |
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[[Category:Argusianus]] |
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[[Category:Controversial taxa]] |
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[[Category:Recent extinctions]] |
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[[it:Argusianus bipunctatus]] |
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[[tr:Çift bantlı argus]] |
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Latest revision as of 18:47, 31 May 2014
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