On Temminck's tailless Ceylon Junglefowl, and how Darwin denied their existence

2017/12/01 by Hein van Grouw, Wim Dekkers, Kees Rookmaaker · 1 citation
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · #Livestock and Poultry Management #Silkworms and Sericulture Research #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Ceylon #Darwin (ADL) #Zoology #Biology #Genealogy #History #Ancient history #Computer science

paper · pdf · doi:10.25226/bboc.v137i4.2017.a3

openalex publication_date 2017/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31

Abstract

Ceylon Junglefowl was described in 1807 by the Dutch ornithologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck. The specimens he examined were tailless (‘rumpless’) and therefore he named them Gallus ecaudatus. In 1831 the French naturalist René Primevère Lesson described a Ceylon Junglefowl with a tail as Gallus lafayetii (= lafayettii), apparently unaware of Temminck's ecaudatus. Subsequently, ecaudatus and lafayettii were realised to be the same species, of which G.stanleyi and G.lineatus are junior synonyms. However, Charles Darwin tried to disprove the existence of wild tailless junglefowl on Ceylon in favour of his theory on the origin of the domestic chicken.

Citations

• Identification of the Yellow Skin Gene Reveals a Hybrid Origin of the Domestic Chicken

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• Paul Broca [wikipedia]

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