Dusky Megapode

Dusky Megapode
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Megapodiidae
Genus:	Megapodius
Species:	M. freycinet
Binomial name
Megapodius freycinet Gaimard, 1823
Subspecies
M. f. forsteni (GR Gray, 1847)(disputed) M. f. oustaleti (Roselaar, 1994) (disputed) M. f. quoyii (GR Gray, 1862)(disputed) M. f. freycinet (Gaimard, 1823)

The Dusky Megapode or Dusky Scrubfowl, Megapodius freycinet, is a medium-sized (approximately 41 cm long), blackish bird with a short pointed crest, bare red facial skin, dark legs, brown iris and dark brown and yellow bill. The male and female are similar. This terrestrial species lives in forests and swamps, including mangroves, of the Maluku and Raja Ampat Islands in Indonesia. Like other megapodes, it lays its eggs in a mound made from earth mixed with leaves, sand, gravel and sticks.

Many authorities include the Biak Scrubfowl as a subspecies of this species, but the two are increasingly treated as separate species. At the same time, many authorities consider the taxon forstenii a separate species, Forsten's Megapode (M. forstenii), but measurements and molecular evidence suggests the two are very close, and arguably better considered conspecific. Traditionally, most members of the genus Megapodius have been listed as subspecies of M. freycinet, but today all major authorities consider this incorrect.

The specific name commemorates the French explorer Louis Claude Desaulses de Freycinet.

A fairly common species throughout a large part of its range, the Dusky Scrubfowl is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

External links

• BirdLife Species Factsheet
• BirdLife International (2012). "Megapodius freycinet". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 02 August 2012.  Database entry includes justification for why this species is of Least Concern.