Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Gruiformes > Rallidae > Porphyrio > Porphyrio porphyrio

Porphyrio porphyrio (Purple Swamphen)

Synonyms: Fulica porphyrio (homotypic); Gallinula porphyrio

Wikipedia Abstract

The western swamphen (Porphyrio porphyrio) is a "swamp hen" in the rail family Rallidae. From its French name talève sultane, it is also known as the sultana bird. This chicken-sized bird, with its large feet, bright plumage and red bill and frontal shield is easily recognisable in its native range. It used to be considered the nominate subspecies of the purple swamphen. It is found in Iberia, France, Sardinia and North Africa to Tunisia.
View Wikipedia Record: Porphyrio porphyrio

Infraspecies

Porphyrio porphyrio bellus
Porphyrio porphyrio caspius
Porphyrio porphyrio indicus
Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariens
Porphyrio porphyrio madagascariensis (Purple Swamphen) (Attributes)
Porphyrio porphyrio melanopterus
Porphyrio porphyrio melanotus (Purple Swamphen) (Attributes)
Porphyrio porphyrio pelewensis
Porphyrio porphyrio poliocephalus (grey-headed swamp-hen)
Porphyrio porphyrio porphyrio (Purple swamphen) (Attributes)
Porphyrio porphyrio pulverulentus
Porphyrio porphyrio samoensis
Porphyrio porphyrio seistanicus
Porphyrio porphyrio viridis

Invasive Species

View ISSG Record: Porphyrio porphyrio

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
6
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
28
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 12.276
EDGE Score: 2.58596
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Clutch Size [6]  4
Clutches / Year [3]  2
Egg Length [3]  2.047 inches (52 mm)
Egg Width [3]  1.614 inches (41 mm)
Fledging [3]  60 days
Incubation [5]  25 days
Mating Display [7]  Ground display
Mating System [7]  Monogamy
Maximum Longevity [3]  22 years
Water Biome [1]  Lakes and Ponds, Rivers and Streams, Coastal, Brackish Water
Adult Weight [2]  1.755 lbs (796 g)
Birth Weight [3]  30 grams
Female Weight [3]  1.596 lbs (724 g)
Male Weight [3]  1.916 lbs (869 g)
Weight Dimorphism [3]  20 %
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Invertebrates), Carnivore (Vertebrates), Granivore, Herbivore
Diet - Ectothermic [4]  10 %
Diet - Endothermic [4]  10 %
Diet - Invertibrates [4]  10 %
Diet - Plants [4]  40 %
Diet - Seeds [4]  30 %
Forages - Understory [4]  20 %
Forages - Ground [4]  60 %
Forages - Water Surface [4]  20 %
Male Maturity [3]  3 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (143)

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Ficus rubiginosa (Port Jackson fig)[8]
Hemarthria uncinata[9]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Tetrameres globosa[10]

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006. The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 01, 2010 at animaldiversity.org
♦ 2Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 8"Fig-eating by vertebrate frugivores: a global review", MIKE SHANAHAN, SAMSON SO, STEPHEN G. COMPTON and RICHARD CORLETT, Biol. Rev. (2001), 76, pp. 529–572
♦ 9Food of some birds in eastern New South Wales: additions to Barker & Vestjens. Emu 93(3): 195–199
♦ 10Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0