Habitat
Tall, dry, lowland primary and logged forests. Also, deciduous forest, but rare to absent from lowland peat swamp and white-sand heath forests. From sea-level - 1,300 m, but principally, below 900 m.
Brunei Darussalam (B) (NB), Indonesia (B) (NB), Malaysia (B) (NB), Myanmar (B) (NB), Singapore (E) (B) (NB), Thailand (B) (NB).
Population
Estimated population is 100,000 (2010) and decreasing.
Status NT
Habitat destruction through logging, conversion to agriculture, trapping for cage-bird industry, are the main threats.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Great Argus (Argusianus argus) [XC673220]
by Yeap Soon Pin from , Malaysia (song)
Great Argus (Argusianus argus) [XC528948]
by Matt Slaymaker from , Malaysia (call)
Subspecies
Extinct form bipunctatus, possibly from Tioman I off Peninsular Malaysia, has alternatively been considered a subspecies of present species or a distinct species and is known only from a portion of a single male primary of uncertain origin.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
argus (Linnaeus, 1766) - Malay Peninsula southern from c. 14o north. Sumatra.
grayi (Elliot, DG, 1865) - Borneo.
bipunctatus! (Wood, 1871) - Possibly from Tioman I off Peninsular Malaysia. Considered by some authors to be a distinct species, Double-banded Argus (Argusianus bipunctatus).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet