The great argus (Argusianus argus) is a species of pheasant from Southeast Asia. It is not to be confused with the two species of closely related crested argus, genus Rheinardia.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
⚠ sources differ — AmnioteDB: 2 280 g · AVONET: 1 960 g · EltonTraits: 1 960 g
Body mass (female)1 636 g
Body mass (male)2 372 g
Hand-wing index8
Kipp's distance29 mm
SVL74.5 cm
Secondary length355 mm
Tail length716 mm
Tarsus length90.9 mm
Wing length384 mm
Life cycle & reproduction3
Egg mass77 g
Incubation24.5 days
Litter size2
Diet & foraging7
Fruit60 %
Ground80 %
Invertebrate20 %
Plant other20 %
Trophic levelherbivore
Trophic nicheFrugivore
Understory20 %
Habitat & environment4
HabitatForest
Migration1.0
Primary lifestyleTerrestrial
Range size1 354 529 km²
05DNA & barcoding7 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Argusianus argus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens7
BINs1
Marker genes1
eDNA detections2
Countries2
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P658 bp consensus7 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 100% of positions are identical in every specimen.
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P
animal barcode
Organelle genome
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
▸ Tap any coloured segment — or a gene chip — to see what it is
◖ violet arc = the COI-5P barcode — the ~650 bp read used to ID this species
Pick a coloured segment on the ring — or a gene chip — to read what that gene does.
protein-codingrRNAtRNA
06Genome at a glanceGoaT
The complete instruction manualArgusianus argus carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size1 486 560 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
THIS GENOME Argusianus argus1.49 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
07Deep time~8.64 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin8.64 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type8 865 records
Wild obs. + sensor8 512
Museum / vouchered353
Origin
Native28
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO4 752 km²
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy15% within 1 km
≤100 m 72≤1 km 9≤10 km 147>10 km 305
533 georeferenced · 7 979 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor8 512
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy5% within 1 km
≤1 km 12≤10 km 127>10 km 124
263 georeferenced · 90 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence353
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions12 of 42 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
The Natural History Museum, London, UK (BMNH)location not on record
44
National Museum of Natural History, Leiden, Netherlandslocation not on record
40
Zoological Reference Collection, Singaporelocation not on record
35
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, USAlocation not on record
29
American Museum of Natural History, New York, USAlocation not on record
13
British Library National Sound Archive (NSA), UKlocation not on record
13
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, USAlocation not on record
9
Cambridge, US
8
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, USAlocation not on record
8
US
6
Zoological Museum Amsterdam, Netherlandslocation not on record
6
University Museum of Zoology Cambridge, UKlocation not on record
5
Natural History Musuem, Vienna, Austrialocation not on record
5
Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germanylocation not on record
5
Ann Arbor, US
5
Seattle, US
4
Honolulu, US
3
Florida Museum of Natural History, USAlocation not on record
3
Naturhistorisches Museum, Basel, Switzerlandlocation not on record
3
Museo Civico de Storia Naturale 'Giacomo Doria', Genoa, Italylocation not on record
3
Zografou, GR
2
Iowa City, US
2
Chicago, US
2
Naturhistorisches Museum Bern, Switzerlandlocation not on record
2
Malmo Museer, Swedenlocation not on record
2
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Hawai'i, USAlocation not on record
2
The Field Museum, Chicago, USAlocation not on record
2
Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, Belgiumlocation not on record
2
Denver, US
2
München, DE
1
Auckland, NZ
1
National Museums and Galleries of Waleslocation not on record
1
Yale Peabody Museum, USAlocation not on record
1
Zoologisches Institut und Zoologisches Museum, Hamburg, Germanylocation not on record
1
Musee Zoologique de l'Universite Louis Pasteur et de la Ville de Strasbourg, Francelocation not on record
1
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
1
South Australian Museumlocation not on record
1
Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Swedenlocation not on record
1
Staatliches Museum fur Naturkunde, Stuttgart, Germanylocation not on record
1
Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, UKlocation not on record
1
Universidad de Caldas (UCaldas)location not on record
1
Copenhagen, DK
1
42 institutions · 278 of 353 vouchered records shown · 75 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA2 detections
Where the DNA of Argusianus argus was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found2
Studies independent surveys1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 2 detections have coordinates
Open the map0 countries0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation18 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility8 865 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI2 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics7 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome ~1.49 Gbp↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
IOC World Bird ListIOCbird checklist↗