The gallopheasants (genus ''Lophura'') are

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

s of the family

Phasianidae Phasianidae is a family (biology), family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, grouse, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Turkey bird, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular Game (hu ...

. The genus comprises 11 species and several subspecies. Several species in this genus are known as firebacks, including crestless and crested firebacks, as well as the

Siamese fireback The Siamese fireback (''Lophura diardi''), also known as Diard's fireback, is a fairly large, approximately long, pheasant. The male has a grey plumage with an extensive facial caruncle, crimson legs and feet, ornamental black crest feathers, re ...

Taxonomy

The genus ''Lophura'' was introduced in 1822 by the Scottish naturalist John Fleming to accommodate a single species, the

Bornean crested fireback The Bornean crested fireback (''Lophura ignita'') is a medium-sized forest pheasant from Borneo and the Bangka Belitung Islands. It is the type species of the genus '' Lophura''. Prior to 2023, it was referred to as simply the crested fireback as ...

(''Phasianus ignitus'' Shaw, 1798) which is therefore considered to be the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

monotypy In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

. The genus name combines the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

λοφος/''lophos'' meaning "crest" with ουρα/''oura'' meaning "tail".

Species

The genus contains the following 11 species: The Vietnamese pheasant ''Lophura hatinhensis'', formerly considered valid, has now been shown to be a variant of Edward's pheasant caused by inbreeding due to small population size. The Imperial pheasant (''Lophura × imperialis'') is now known to be a

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two diff ...

between Edwards's pheasant (''Lophura edwardsi'') and a subspecies of silver pheasant (''Lophura nycthemera annamensis'').

References

* {{Galliformes-stub