Silver pheasant

Silver pheasant
Male
Female
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Genus: Lophura
Species:
L. nycthemera
Binomial name
Lophura nycthemera
Synonyms
  • Phasianus nycthemerus Linnaeus, 1758
Silver pheasant in captivity. Note the brown patches, typical of sub-adult males

The silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera) is a species of pheasant found in forests, mainly in mountains, of mainland Southeast Asia and eastern and southern China. It is introduced on Victoria Island in Nahuel Huapi Lake, Neuquén, Argentina and on Vancouver Island, Canada. The male is black and white, while the female is mainly brown. Both sexes have a bare red face and red legs (the latter separating it from the greyish-legged kalij pheasant).[2] It is common in aviculture, and overall also remains common in the wild, but some of its subspecies (notably L. n. whiteheadi from Hainan, L. n. engelbachi from southern Laos, and L. n. annamensis from southern Vietnam) are rare and threatened.[2]

  1. ^ BirdLife International (2016). "Lophura nycthemera". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22679220A92808107. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679220A92808107.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b McGowan, P. J. K. (1994). Silver Pheasant (Lophura nycthemera). pp. 533 in: del Hoyo, J, A. Elliott, & J. Sargatal (1994). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 2. New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Editions. ISBN 84-87334-15-6