Gallus sonneratii

Gallus sonneratii, Photo: Michael Lahanas

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Ordo: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Pangalloanserae
Cladus: Galloanseres
Ordo: Galliformes

Familia: Phasianidae
Subfamilia: Phasianinae
Genus: Gallus
Species: Gallus sonneratii
Name

Gallus sonneratii Temminck, 1813
References

Temminck C.J. 1813. Histoire naturelle générale des Pigeons et des Gallinacés. 2: 1–477, pl. 1–3. J.C. Sepp & Fils, Amsterdam and G. Dufour, Paris. BHL DOI: 10.5962/bhl.title.64844 Reference page. : 246

Vernacular names
مصرى: دجاج الادغال الرمادى
العربية: دجاج الأدغال الرمادي
azərbaycanca: Boz cəngəllik toyuğu
български: Сива кокошка
भोजपुरी: मटियाहूँ जंगली मुर्गा
বাংলা: ধূসর বনমোরগ
brezhoneg: Kilhog Sonnerat
català: Gall gris
čeština: Kur Sonneratův
Cymraeg: Ceiliog coedwig llwyd
dansk: Grå Junglehøne
Deutsch: Sonnerathuhn
English: Grey Junglefowl
Esperanto: Griza koko
español: Gallo gris
فارسی: مرغ جنگلی خاکستری
français: Coq de Sonnerat
עברית: תרנגול סונרט
हिन्दी: सलेटी जंगली मुर्गा
magyar: Szürke dzsungeltyúk
Bahasa Indonesia: Ayam hutan kelabu
italiano: Gallo grigio
日本語: ハイイロヤケイ
ಕನ್ನಡ: ಬೂದು ಕಾಡು ಕೋಳಿ
한국어: 회색야계
latviešu: Pelēkā savvaļas vista
മലയാളം: കാട്ടുകോഴി
मराठी: राखी रानकोंबडी
Bahasa Melayu: Ayam hutan Kelabu
नेपाली: कालिज
Nederlands: Sonnerathoen
norsk: Brokadehane
ଓଡ଼ିଆ: ଚିତ୍ରା ଜଙ୍ଗଲୀ କୁକୁଡ଼ା
polski: Kur siwy
پنجابی: گرے جنگی ککڑ
português: Bengal
русский: Серая джунглевая курица
svenska: Grå djungelhöna
தமிழ்: வெள்ளைக் கானாங்கோழி
ไทย: ไก่ป่าอินเดีย
Türkçe: Gri hint kuşu
Tiếng Việt: Gà rừng lông xám
中文（简体）: 灰原鸡
中文（繁體）: 灰原雞
中文: 灰原雞

---------

The gray junglefowl (Gallus sonneratii), also known as Sonnerat's junglefowl, is one of the wild ancestors of the domestic chicken together with the red junglefowl and other junglefowls.

The species epithet commemorates the French explorer Pierre Sonnerat. Local names include Komri in Rajasthan, Geera kur or Parda komri in Gondi, Jangli Murghi in Hindi, Raan kombdi in Marathi, Kattu Kozhi in Tamil and Malayalam, Kaadu koli in Kannada and Tella adavi kodi in Telugu.[3]
Description
Painting by John Gould
Grey junglefowl cock in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, India.

The male has a black cape with ochre spots and the body plumage on a grey ground colour is finely patterned. The elongated neck feathers are dark and end in a small, hard, yellowish plate; this peculiar structure making them popular for making high-grade artificial flies.[4] The male has red wattles and combs but not as strongly developed as in the red junglefowl. Legs of males are red and have spurs while the yellow legs of females usually lack spurs.[5][6] The central tail feathers are long and sickle shaped. Males have an eclipse plumage in which they moult their colourful neck feathers in summer during or after the breeding season.[7]

The female is duller and has black and white streaking on the underparts and yellow legs.
Distribution and habitat

This species is endemic to India, and even today it is found mainly in peninsular India and towards the northern boundary. They are found in thickets, on the forest floor and open scrub. The species occurs mainly in the Indian Peninsula, but extends into Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and southern Rajasthan. The red junglefowl is found more along the foothills of the Himalayas; a region of overlap occurs in the Aravalli range.[5] although the ranges are largely non-overlapping.[8]
Disputed subspecies

The populations from the region of Mount Abu in Rajasthan named as the subspecies wangyeli is usually not recognized[9] although it is said that the calls of the cock from this region differs from the call of birds from southern India and the plumage is much paler.[8]
Behaviour

Their loud calls of Ku-kayak-kyuk-kyuk (Call of maleⓘOther callsⓘcallsⓘ) are loud and distinctive, and can be heard in the early mornings and at dusk. Unlike the red junglefowl, the male does not flap its wings before uttering the call.[10] They breed from February to May.[5] They lay 4 to 7 eggs which are pale creamy in a scrape. Eggs hatch in about 21 days. Although mostly seen on the ground, grey junglefowl fly into trees to escape predators and to roost. They forage in small mixed or single sex groups. They feed on grains including bamboo seeds, berries, insects and termites, and are hunted for meat and for the long neck hackle feathers that are sought after for making fishing lures.
Relationships

Gallus

Green junglefowl–Gallus varius (Shaw, 1798) Red junglefowl–Gallus gallus (Linnaeus, 1758) Sri Lankan junglefowl–Gallus lafayettii (Lesson, 1831) Grey junglefowl–Gallus sonneratii (Temminck, 1813)

Cladogram showing the species in the genus Gallus.[11][12]

Gray junglefowl have been bred domestically in England since 1862[13] and their feathers have been commercially supplied from domestic U.K. stocks for fly tying since 1978.[13] A gene from the gray junglefowl is responsible for the yellow pigment in the legs and different body parts of all the domestic chicken breeds.[14] A more recent study revealed multiple gray junglefowl genomic regions introgressed the genome of the domestic chicken, with evidence of some domestic chicken genes also found in the gray junglefowl.[11]

The gray junglefowl will sometimes hybridize in the wild with the red junglefowl. It also hybridizes readily in captivity and sometimes with free-range domestic chickens kept in habitations close to forests. The gray junglefowl and red junglefowl diverged about 2.6 million years ago.[11] The species has been isolated by a variety of mechanisms, including behavioural differences and genic incompatibility, but hybridization is not unknown.[15][16] Some phylogenetic studies of gray junglefowl show that this species is more closely related to the Sri Lankan junglefowl Gallus lafayetii than to the red junglefowl, Gallus gallus,[11][17] but another study shows a more ambiguous position due to hybridization.[18] However, the time of divergence between the gray junglefowl and Sri Lankan junglefowl around 1.8 million years ago is more recent than 2.6 million years ago calculated for between the gray junglefowl and red junglefowl.[11] This divergence time supports a sister relationship between gray junglefowl and Sri Lankan junglefowl.[11]

An endogenous retroviral DNA sequence, of the EAV-HP group noted in domestic chickens is also found in the genome of this species pointing to the early integration of the virus DNA into the genome of Gallus.[19]
References

BirdLife International (2016). "Gallus sonneratii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22679203A92807338. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22679203A92807338.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
"Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
Anonymous (1998). "Vernacular Names of the Birds of the Indian Subcontinent" (PDF). Buceros. 3 (1): 53–109. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-04-01.
"Identification Notes" (PDF). US Fish and Wildlife. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-25. Retrieved 2006-10-31.
Rasmussen PC; JC Anderton (2005). Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide. Volume 2. Smithsonian Institution and Lynx Edicions. p. 132.
"Occurrence of spurs in the female junglefowl (Gallus sonnerati)". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 52 (2–3): 603–604. 1954.
Morejohn, G. V. (1968). "Study of the plumage of the four species of the genus Gallus". The Condor. 70 (1): 56–65. doi:10.2307/1366508. JSTOR 1366508.
Ali, S.; Ripley, S. D. Handbook of the birds of India and Pakistan. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 106–109.
Storer, R. W. (1988). Type Specimens of Birds in the Collections of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (PDF). University of Michigan, Miscellaneous publications No. 174.
Finn, Frank (1911). The game birds of India and Asia. Thacker, Spink and Co., Calcutta. pp. 21–23.
Lawal, R.A.; et al. (2020). "The wild species genome ancestry of domestic chickens". BMC Biology. 18 (13): 13. doi:10.1186/s12915-020-0738-1. PMC 7014787. PMID 32050971.
Tiley, G.P.; Pandey, A.; Kimball, R.T.; Braun, E.L.; Burleigh, J.G. (2020). "Whole genome phylogeny of Gallus: introgression and data‑type effects". Avian Research. 11 (7). doi:10.1186/s40657-020-00194-w.
Bransford Game Fisheries. "Jungle Cock". Bransford Game Fisheries. Fisherman's feathers. Retrieved 28 September 2013.
"Darwin Was Wrong About Wild Origin Of The Chicken, New Research Shows". sciencedaily.com.
Eriksson J, Larson G, Gunnarsson U, Bed'hom B, Tixier-Boichard M, et al. (2008). Georges M (ed.). "Identification of the Yellow Skin Gene Reveals a Hybrid Origin of the Domestic Chicken". PLOS Genetics. 4 (2): e1000010. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1000010. PMC 2265484. PMID 18454198.
Morejohn, G. Victor (1968). "Breakdown of Isolation Mechanisms in Two Species of Captive Junglefowl (Gallus gallus and Gallus sonneratii)". Evolution. 22 (3): 576–582. doi:10.2307/2406881. JSTOR 2406881. PMID 28564768.
Fumihito, Akishinonomiya; Tetsuo Miyake; Masaru Takada; Ryosuke Shingut; Toshinori Endo; Takashi Gojobori; Norio Kondo & Susumu Ohno (1996). "Monophyletic origin and unique dispersal patterns of domestic fowls" (PDF). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93 (13): 6792–6795. Bibcode:1996PNAS...93.6792F. doi:10.1073/pnas.93.13.6792. PMC 39106. PMID 8692897.
Nishibori, M.; Shimogiri, T.; Hayashi, T.; Yasue, H. (2005). "Molecular evidence for hybridization of species in the genus Gallus except for Gallus varius". Animal Genetics. 36 (5): 367–375. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.2005.01318.x. PMID 16167978.

Sacci, MA; K Howes; K Venugopal (2001). "Intact EAV-HP Endogenous Retrovirus in Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl". Journal of Virology. 75 (4): 2029–2032. doi:10.1128/JVI.75.4.2029-2032.2001. PMC 115153. PMID 11160706.

Other sources

Tehsin, Raza H (1988) Inducing sleep in birds. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 85(2):435-436.
Chitampalli, MB (1977) Occurrence of Grey Junglefowl and Red Junglefowl together. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 74(3):527.
Abdulali, Humayun (1957) The Grey Junglefowl in Salsette. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 54(4):946.
Tehsin, Raza; Tehsin, Fatema (1990) Jungle Cat Felis chaus and Grey Junglefowl Gallus sonneratii. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 87(1):144.
Morris, RC (1927) A jungle fowl problem. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 32(2):374.
Sethna, KR (1969). "Grey Junglefowl in South India". Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 9 (11): 10.
Ali, S (1968) The case of the Indian Grey Junglefowl. Newsletter for Birdwatchers . 8(5):5-6.
Subramanian, C; Kambarajan, P; Sathyanarayana, MC (2001) Roosting tree preference by Grey Junglefowl, (Gallus sonneratti) at Theni Forest Division, Western Ghats, Tamil Nadu, south India. Mor 4(February), 9:11.
Zacharias, VJ (1993) Grey Jungle Fowl in Kerala. WPA-India News 1(1):9-10.