Plains Wanderer
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| Pedionomus torquatus Gould, 1841 |
The Plains Wanderer, Pedionomus torquatus, is a unique bird and is put in a family of its own. It is endemic to Australia.
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[edit] Description
This is a quail-like ground bird, measuring 15–19 cm. The adult male is light brown above, with fawn-white underparts with black crescents. The adult female has a distinctive white-spotted black collar.
[edit] Taxonomy
It was formerly believed to be related to the buttonquails and thus placed in the gamebird order Galliformes or with the cranes and rails in Gruiformes. DNA-DNA hybridization and RAG-1 sequence data places it as a wader related to the jacanas (Sibley & Ahlquist 1990, Paton et al. 2003, Thomas et al. 2004, van Tuinen et al. 2004). It thus represents a remarkable case of morphological convergence.
[edit] Conservation Status
Population decline has been caused by the conversion of native grasslands to cultivation.
[edit] International
This bird is listed as an endangered species on the 2007 IUCN Red List.
[edit] Australia
Plains Wanderers are listed as vulnerable on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Their conservation status also varies from state to state within Australia. For example:
- The Plains Wanderer is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988).[1] Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has been prepared.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
- ^ Department of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria
- BirdLife International (2006). Pedionomus torquatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is endangered, and the criteria used
- Paton, T. A.; Baker, A. J.; Groth, J. G. & Barrowclough, G. F. (2003): RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 268-278. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8 (HTML abstract)
- Sibley, Charles Gald & Ahlquist, Jon Edward (1990): Phylogeny and classification of birds. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.
- Thomas, Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A. & Székely, Tamás (2004): A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 PDF fulltext Supplementary Material
- van Tuinen, Marcel; Waterhouse, David & Dyke, Gareth J. (2004): Avian molecular systematics on the rebound: a fresh look at modern shorebird phylogenetic relationships. Journal of Avian Biology 35(3): 191-194. PDF fulltext
