Summary ²

Black-backed swamphen (Porphyrio indicus) is a species of swamphen occurring from southeast Asia to Sulawesi and Borneo. It used to be considered a subspecies of the purple swamphen, which it resembles, but has a large shield, black upperparts, and the side of the head is blackish.

This is a rare visitor to Singapore.

It can be separated from the resident Grey-headed swamphen by its blackish head.

Sources and Credits

1. (c) Tan Kok Hui, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Tan Kok Hui
2. Adapted by Tan Kok Hui from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrio_porphyrio

More Info

• iNat taxon page
• Animal Diversity Web
• Biodiversity Heritage Library
• BOLD Systems BIN search
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
• VertNet
• Xeno-canto

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