Manipur bush quail

Manipur bush quail
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Family: Phasianidae
Subfamily: Perdicinae
Genus: Perdicula
Species: P. manipurensis
Binomial name
Perdicula manipurensis
(Hume, 1880)

The Manipur bush quail (Perdicula manipurensis) is a species of quail found in India, inhabiting damp grassland, particularly stands of tall grass, in West Bengal, Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, and Meghalaya.[2]

It was first collected and described by Allan Octavian Hume on an ornithological expedition to Manipur in 1881.

P. manipurensis is listed as Endangered on the IUCN's Red List, as its habitat is small, fragmented, and rapidly shrinking.[1]

There was no confirmed sighting of the bird from 1932 until June 2006, when Anwaruddin Choudhury reported spotting the quail in Assam.[3] [4]

BBC News quoted the conservation director of the Wildlife Trust of India, Rahul Kaul, as saying, "This creature has almost literally returned from the dead."[3]

History

The species was considered by Frank Finn (1911) based on Captain Wood's report of 1899 that the species was common in the past.[5] Wood noted that the bird was commonly trapped by Manipur people after bush fires and that the local name was lanz-soibol meaning "trap quail".[6]

References

  1. 1 2 BirdLife International (2013). "Perdicula manipurensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
  2. ↑ "Manipur Bush-quail - BirdLife Species Factsheet". Retrieved 2006-06-28.
  3. 1 2 "'Extinct' quail sighted in India". BBC News. 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
  4. ↑ "Rare quail sighted in Assam after 75 years". Newkerala.com. 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2006-06-28.
  5. ↑ Finn, Frank (1911), Game birds of India and Asia., Thacker and Spink, Calcutta.
  6. ↑ Wood, H.S. (1899). "Note on Hume's Bush-quail (Microperdix manipurensis)". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 68: 110.
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