Congo Peacock – an Update

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Congo Peacock – an update The discovery of Congo Peacock Afropavo congensis was one of the most sensational ornithological events of the 20 th century, partly because such a large bird had eluded discovery and partly because of its potential affinity with Asiatic species (1). It was in 1936 that James Chapin found two mounted specimens put away on top of a cabinet at the Belgian Congo Museum (now Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren, near Brussels), having been misidentified as Pavo cristatus for 20 years, and thus considered uninteresting (2). It was rediscovered and photographed by wildlife film-maker Alan Root in 1993 (3, 4). It has remained an elusive and rarely seen and photographed species so it was with great interest and excitement to receive this photograph of a female Congo Peacock located by Mark Van Beirs (http://www.birdquest-tours.com/news ) ABC member Michel Louette, the former head of Ornithology at the RMCA writes to say that his late student Emile Mulotwa at the University of Kisangani, worked on this species for his doctoral thesis in 2008. During this work, he made many sightings (5-7). But Emile died sadly in a plane accident in 2011. References 1. Urban, E.K., Fry, C.H. and Keith, S. (1986) The Birds of Africa Volume II, pp. 11-13. 2. Chapin, J.P. (1936) A new peacock-like bird from the Belgian Congo. Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 29, pp. 1-6. 3. Fanshawe, J.H. (1994): Elusive Congo Peacock found by filmmaker Alan Root. ABC Bulletin 1(1) p 27. 4. Fanshawe, J.H. (1995) Photospot: Congo Peacock Afropavo congensis. ABC Bulletin 2(1) pp. 42-43. 5. Mulotwa, E. 2005. Biology of the Congo Peafowl Afropavo congensis . Malimbus 27: 47. 6. Mulotwa, E., Louette, M., Dudu, A., Upoki, A. and Fuller, R.A. 2010. Congo Peafowl use both primary and regenerating forest in Salonga National Park, Democratic Republic of Congo. Ostrich 81(1): 1-6. 7. Mulotwa, E., Louette, M., Dudu, A., Upoki, A. and Fuller, R. 2010. New information on habitat use by the Congo peafowl. World Pheasant Association News 84: 4. .

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A Molecular Phylogeny of the Pheasants and Partridges Suggests That These Lineages Are Not Monophyletic R
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