Pavo (genus)

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

Pavo
Temporal range: Late Miocene to present
Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) displaying
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Subfamily: Phasianinae
Genus: Pavo
Linnaeus, 1758
Species
A white peafowl

Species
ImageNameCommon nameDistribution
Pavo cristatusIndian peafowlSouth Asia introduced elsewhere
Pavo muticusGreen peafowlSoutheast Asia

Fossil record

In the Pliocene on the Balkan peninsula peafowl (Bravard's peafowl) coexisted with ptarmigans (Lagopus)[1] Peafowl were widely spread on the Balkan peninsula and the Southeast Europe until the end of the Pliocene.[2]

References
  1. Boev, Z. 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.
  2. 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.
  • Stidham, Thomas A. The first fossil of the Congo peafowl (Galliformes: Afropavo). S. Afr. j. sci. [online]. 2008, vol.104, n.11-12, pp. 511–512. ISSN 0038-2353.
  • Louchart A. (2003). A true peafowl in Africa. S. Afr. J. Sci. 99, 368–371. [ Links ]
  • Pickford M., Senut B. and Mourer-Chauviré C. (2004). Early Pliocene Tragulidae and peafowls in the rift valley, Kenya: evidence for rainforest in East Africa. C. R. Palevol 3, 179–189. [ Links ]
  • Dupain J. and Van Krunkelsven E. (1996). Recent observations of the Congo Peacock Afropavo congensis in the Equateur Province, Zaire. Ostrich 67, 94–95. [ Links ]
  • Stidham T.A. (2007). Preliminary assessment of the Late Miocene avifauna from Lemudong'o, Kenya. Kirtlandia 56, 173–176. [ Links ]
  • Kimball R.T., Braun E.L. and Ligon J.D. (1997). Resolution of the phylogenetic position of the Congo peafowl, Afropavo congensis: a biogeographic and evolutionary enigma. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 264, 1517–1523. [ Links ]
  • Phylogeny of major lineages of galliform birds (Aves: Galliformes) based on complete mitochondrial genomes:
X.-Z. Kan1, J.-K. Yang1, X.-F. Li1, L. Chen1, Z.-P. Lei2, M. Wang1,
C.-J. Qian1, H. Gao3 and Z.-Y. Yang3
  • Dyke, G.J., Gulas, B.E. and Crowe, T.M. 2003. The suprageneric relationships of galliform birds (Aves, Galliformes): a cladistic analysis of morphological characters. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 227–244.
  • van Tuinen, M. and Dyke, G.J. 2004. Calibration of galliform molecular clocks using multiple fossils and genetic partitions. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 30(1): 74-86


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