Typical Megapodes
Megapodius
The scrubfowl are mound-builders (stocky, medium-large chicken-like birds with small heads and large feet in the family Megapodiidae) in the genus Megapodius. They are found from Southeast Asia to northern Australia and islands in the west Pacific.
They do not incubate their eggs with their body heat in the orthodox way, but bury them. They are best known for building a massive mound of decaying vegetation, which the male attends, adding or removing litter to regulate the internal heat while the eggs hatch.
15 branches of this genus, most-observed first · about 12 known species
Orange-footed Scrubfowl
speciesMegapodius reinwardt
Philippine Megapode
speciesMegapodius cumingii
Dusky Megapode
speciesMegapodius freycinet
Micronesian Megapode
speciesMegapodius laperouse
Melanesian Megapode
speciesMegapodius eremita
Sula Megapode
speciesMegapodius bernsteinii
New Guinea Megapode
speciesMegapodius decollatus
Vanuatu Megapode
speciesMegapodius layardi
Biak Megapode
speciesMegapodius geelvinkianus
Nicobar Megapode
speciesMegapodius nicobariensis
Tanimbar Megapode
speciesMegapodius tenimberensis
Viti Levu Scrubfowl
speciesMegapodius amissus
Pile-builder Scrubfowl
speciesMegapodius molistructor
Consumed Scrubfowl
speciesMegapodius alimentum
Tongan Megapode
speciesMegapodius pritchardii
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Megapodius in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 2018.