The dusky megapode (Megapodius freycinet), also known as dusky scrubfowlorcommon megapode, is a medium-sized, approximately 41 cm (16 in) long, blackish bird with a short pointed crest, bare red facial skin, dark legs, brown irises, and a dark brown and yellow bill. The male and female are similar. This terrestrial species lives in forests and swamps, including mangroves, of the Maluku and Raja Ampat IslandsinIndonesia. Like other megapodes, it lays its eggs in a mound made from earth mixed with leaves, sand, gravel, and sticks, which can be as large as 11 m (36 ft) in diameter and stand nearly 5 m (16 ft) tall.[2]
Many authorities include the Biak scrubfowl as a subspecies of this species, but the two are increasingly treated as separate species. At the same time, many authorities consider the taxonM. forsteni a separate species, Forsten's megapode, but measurements and molecular evidence suggest the two are very close,[3] and arguably better considered conspecific. Traditionally, most members of the genusMegapodius have been listed as subspecies of M. freycinet, but today, all major authorities consider this to be incorrect.
A fairly common species throughout a large part of its range, the dusky scrubfowl is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
^Birks, S. M., & Edwards, S. V. (2002). A phylogeny of the megapodes (Aves: Megapodidae) based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 23: 408-421.
