Common pheasant
Scientific name: Phasianus colchicus Linnaeus, 1758
Overview
The common pheasant, ring-necked pheasant, or blue-headed pheasant, is a bird in the pheasant family (Phasianidae). The genus name comes from Latin phasianus 'pheasant'. The species name colchicus is Latin for 'of Colchis', a country on the Black Sea where pheasants became known to Europeans. Although Phasianus was previously thought to be closely related to the genus Gallus, the genus of junglefowl and domesticated chickens, recent studies show that they are in different subfamilies, having diverged over 20 million years ago.
From the Wikipedia article “Common pheasant”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Conservation status
Least concern on the IUCN Red List, as recorded on Wikidata, citing The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021.3.
Where it lives
The Catalogue of Life records it in: Europe & Northern Asia (excluding China); North America; Oceania; Southern Asia.
Common names
Also known in English as Ring-necked Pheasant.
Names in other languages (11)
- Arabic
- تدرج مألوف
- Chinese
- 环颈雉, 雉鸡
- French
- faisan de chasse, Faisan de Colchide
- German
- Fasan, Jagdfasan
- Hindi
- सामान्य तीतर
- Japanese
- コウライキジ
- Persian
- قرقاول
- Portuguese
- faisão, faisão-comum, faisão-de-colar
- Russian
- обыкновенный фазан
- Spanish
- faisán, Faisán de collar, Faisán vulgar
- Turkish
- bayağı sülün
Related animals
Sources
-
Catalogue of Life — scientific name, classification, common names and range.
Version 2026-09-11, CC BY 4.0.
This species in the Catalogue of Life.
Citation
Bánki, O., Roskov, Y., Döring, M., Ower, G., Hernández Robles, D. R., Plata Corredor, C. A., Stjernegaard Jeppesen, T., Örn, A., Pape, T., Hobern, D., Garnett, S., Little, H., DeWalt, R. E., Miller, J., Orrell, T., Aalbu, R., Abbott, J., Aedo, C., Aescht, E., et al. (2026). Catalogue of Life (Version 2026-09-11). Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgz5n Source database: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System.
- GBIF — species page and recorded occurrences.
- Wikidata — conservation status, names in other languages. Q25432, CC0 1.0.
- Wikipedia — overview, from the article “Common pheasant”, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Photo — Beebe, William; Grönvold, Henrik; Knight, Charles Robert; Lodge, George Edward; New York Zoological Society.; Stanford's Geographical Estabt.; Thorburn, Archiba..., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
- Range map — Donkey shot, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons. File page.
Last updated: 4 October 2026