Data from: A small Miocene peafowl (Galliformes: Phasianidae) from the high elevation Linxia Basin of China illuminates the evolution of the clade and its paleobiology

The species of Pavo and Afropavo are known as peafowl, and they
occupy a disjunct distribution in southern Asia and central Africa. This
distinct geographic distribution has led to debate regarding the origin
and evolution of this clade, and the current fossil record of peafowl
extends into the Neogene of Europe, Asia, and Africa, pointing to a more
recent origin of the disjunction. Here, we describe an associated partial
skeleton from Late Miocene deposits in the Linxia Basin, China, at the
edge of the Tibetan Plateau, representing a new extinct bird taxon, Eopavo
hezhengensis gen. et. sp. nov. The holotype is represented by parts of the
limbs, synsacrum, pelvis, pectoral girdle, and vertebrae. Morphological
comparisons and a phylogenetic analysis place this extinct species as the
closest relative of Pavo and Afropavo, nested within the clade Pavonini.
Eopavo hezhengensis has a relatively longer spur given its smaller body
frame, likely indicating that the holotype specimen derives from a male
individual, and that this species possibly participated in aggressive,
physical contact between conspecific males as some relatives do today. The
small body size of Eopavo may be linked to its occupation of a
high-elevation Miocene savanna habitat, which is different from the humid
forest preferred by its extant relatives. Along with the older fossil
peafowl record in the Himalayan area dated to 13.6 Ma, Eopavo hezhengensis
helps to document the diversity and ancient history of the peafowl clade
in Asia, and it also indicates that peafowl dispersed from Asia to other
continents during the Late Miocene and Pliocene, with the Tibetan Plateau
as a potential center of origin.