Malleefowl

SCI Name:  Leipoa ocellata
Protonym:  Leipoa ocellata BirdsAustr. pt1 pl.6[=5],pl.78
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Megapodiidae / Leipoa
Taxonomy Code:  mallee1
Type Locality:  Western Australia; type locality given as Swan River by Mathews, infra.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1840
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

LEIPOA
(Megapodidae; Ϯ Malleefowl L. ocellata) Gr. λειπω leipō  to abandon; ωον ōon  egg; "LEIPOA OCELLATA, Gould.  Ocellated Leipoa.  Leipoa ocellata, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., October 13, 1840.  Ngow, Aborigines of the lowland; Ngőw-oo, of the mountain districts of Western Australia. Native Pheasant, Colonists of Western Australia.  ...  The Ocellated Leipoa appears to be more peculiarly suited for a plain and open country than for the tangled brush; and it is most curious to observe how beautifully the means employed by Nature for the reproduction of the species is adapted to the situations it is destined to inhabit." (Gould 1840); "This new species differing considerably in several of its characters from the Brush Turkeys (Talegalla), Mr. Gould proceeded to characterize it as a new genus, under the name of Leipoa, signifying 'a deserter of its eggs.' " (Gould 1841); "Leipoa Gould, Bds. Austr., pt. 1, 1840, pl. [6] and text. Type, by monotypy, Leipoa ocellata Gould." (Peters 1934, II, 7). The eggs of the Malleefowl are left to incubate on their own in mounds of rotting vegetation.
Var. Leiopa, Lipoa.
Synon. Progura.

ocellata / ocellatum / ocellatus
L. ocellatus  ocellated, marked with eyelets < ocellus  eyelet  < dim. oculus  eye.
● ex “Capocier” or “Capolier” of Levaillant 1801-1804, pl. 130, fig. 1 (syn. Prinia maculosa).
● ex “Caille de l’Isle de Luçon” of Sonnerat 1776 (Turnix).