Name
editThe original name of Ithagenis was not blood pheasant, but rather, blood snow partridge. This is in reference to the micro habitat Ithagenis frequents foraging near the snow line as it migrates with the seasons. Blood snow is also referred to as watermelon snow. Blood snow partridges are perfectly camouflaged in blood snow. It is likely that this archetypal taxon inhabiting what is now the Tibetan plateau for millions of years, evolved together with their peculiar niche before the birth of the Himalayan mountains had gotten underway. Ancestors of Ithagenis were likely subtropical forest adapted landfowl related to the fossil taxon Telecrex. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pinudjem (talk • contribs) 08:11, 9 December 2020 (UTC)
Blood snow
editSpecies belonging to the genus Ithagenis are commonly referred to as “blood pheasants”. This came about rather recently and has obscured something most compelling about the taxon.
These enigmatic high elevation landfowl are known by Tibetan, Mongolian & Chinese ethnics, in their respective languages, as blood snow partridge. This is more appropriate than blood pheasant because Ithagenis is not a pheasant and it is not blood-colored. Ithagenis are partridge-like landfowl were named traditionally, in reference to habitat preference & behavioral ecology of the blood snow partridge super species complex. Pinudjem (talk) 08:20, 9 December 2020 (UTC)