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
  • Pavo cristatus
  • Pavo muticus
A white peafowl

Species
ImageNameCommon nameDistribution
Pavo cristatusIndian peafowlSouth Asia
Pavo muticusGreen peafowlSoutheast Asia

Fossil record
  • Pavo bravardi (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.

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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