Subspecies group:  elegans outgroup 

Locality: Eastern Tibet, Western Sichuan, and Northwestern Yunnan provinces, 5,000-10,000 ft. prefered elevation.

rump color: gray

collar: none 

notes: elegans diverged from other lineages of the ring-necked pheasant 3.4 million years ago. Considered a seprate species by some.

Identification notes: Overall plumage dark and contrasting, but check to distinguish this subspecies from suehschanensis which has some range overlap. Scaplulars are scarcely spotted when compared to those of suehschanensis.

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped)

Locality: Central China ( Eastern Szechuan, Western Hubei, Northeastern Yunnan and Guizhou).

rump color: gray

collar: none

Identification notes: Appears like torquatus but with no collar.

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped)

Locality: Northeastern China, The Koreas, Intorduced to Japan. Prefers low altitudes (below 2,000ft.)

rump color:  gray

collar:  wide 

Identification notes: similar to torquatus but no range overlap

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped)

Locality:  Southeastern Siberia, Koreas and Northeastern China

rump color: pale gray

collar: wide 

Notes: commonly released as a gamebird.

Identification notes: large collar and pale plumage can be variable, but generally, this subspecies is unmistakable even outside it's native range.

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped)

Locality: Southeastern China and Tonkin

rump color: gray

collar: wide and often broken at the front

notes: rare

Identification notes: poorly known, best identified by range. Supposedly similar to Torquatus but overall darker.  

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped)

Locality: Yunnan, Tonkin, northern Laos and eastern Myanmar. Prefers elevations of 5,000 to 10,000 ft.

rump color: gray

collar: Thin collars present in some individuals 

notes: rare, no photographs or illustrations available 

Identification notes: Similar to elegans but lighter. Best identified by range.

Subspecies group:  torquatus (gray-rumped) 

Locality: Eastern China

rump color: gray

collar:  wide 

notes: commonly introduced game bird.

Identification notes: Often considered the "default" ring-necked pheasant, but be careful with range and hybridization 

Subspecies group:  Formosanus (Taiwanese)

Locality:  Taiwan

rump color:  gray

collar: broken and thin

notes: the pure from may be extinct due to hybridization with intorduced subspecies. Modern Formosanus individuals may contain some introgression with other subspecies. 

Identification notes: Black belly and pale sides. Range is also diagnostic.

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality:  North Central China, Southern Mongolia. "Oases near the western foothills of Ala-Shans"**

rump color: gray

collar: thin

notes: poorly studied

Identification notes: poorly known, best identified by range.

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality:  Kobdo Valley, Mongolia, prefers elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 ft.

rump color: green-gray

collar: wide

Notes: range restricted to a single valley

Identification notes: Distinctive bright golden flanks as well as small range are diagnostic. 

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality: Northeastern China

rump color: gray

collar: wide and sometimes broken

Identification notes: extremely similar torquatus, range overlaps, but kiangsuensis skews further north. The barring on the nape in finer in kiangsuensis than in torquatus.

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality: Northwestern Gansu "North of the Nan Shans, Valleys of the Dan-khe and Bulunzir"**

rump color: gray

collar: narrow and broken

Identification notes: best identified by range 

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality: Central China, Gansu south to Szechuan. Prefers altitudes near 10,000 ft.

rump color: gray

collar: Presence, shape and completion all variable

notes:  May be a hybrid form of satscheuensis and suehschanensis 

Identification notes: extremely variable, best identified by range and elimination of other subspecies. 

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality: Northwest Szechuan and Eastern Tibet

rump color: gray 

collar:  none 

notes: plumage similar to elegans, genetics show the two as unrelated. A possible case of hybridization between subspecies, but this is untested.

Identification notes: Look for an elegans outside of Yunnan, or an elegans that looks too "diluted"

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii

Locality: Quinghai, prefers elevations of 2,000 to 7,000 ft.

rump color: gray

collar: Usually absent, thin, broken collars can be seen in some individuals.

Identification notes: best identified by range.

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii*

Locality: Ruo Shui basin "valley of Edzin-gol and Sokho-nor"**

rump color: gray

collar: thin or not present 

notes: rare and poorly studied

Identification notes: similar plumage to satscheuensis, best identified by range.

Subspecies group:  strauchi-vlangallii*

Locality:  "Sohokhoto Oasis" Helan mountains. "Possibly foothills of the Richthofen Range"**

rump color: gray 

collar: present

notes: Rare. While the subspecies is confirmed to exist in a single recent scientific publication, no photographs or illustrations are publically available

Identification notes: Said to resemble strauchi but paler with "eyebrows" and a collar.

Subspecies group:  tarimensis 

Locality: Southeastern Tarim Basin

rump color: olive green

collar: none 

notes: The only member of this species with a green rump, poorly studied.

Identification notes: best identified by range. 

Subspecies group:  Mongolicus (Mongolian)

Locality: Northern Kyrgyzstan, Eastern Kazakhstan, Xinjiang and Urumchi.

rump color: dark brown 

collar: wide and broken

notes: Occasionally released as a gamebird.

Identification notes: widespread in its range. Darkly plumaged with contrasting white wing coverts.

Subspecies group:  Mongolicus (Monglian)*

Locality: Syr Darya river valley (southern Kazakhstan, small portions of east Uzbekistan, northern Tajikistan, and western Kyrgyzstan)

rump color: dark brown 

collar: wide and complete 

Identification notes: Small range, darkly plumaged with contrasting white wing coverts, slightly brighter sides than mongolicus. Common around the city of Shynkent (Шымкент).

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged) 

Locality: Upper valley of the river Amu Darya in southern Uzbekistan, southwestern Tajikistan and extreme northern Afghanistan.

rump color: Dark brown

collar: none

Notes: exceptionally rare, may be as few as 400 individuals in the wild.

Identification notes: bright white wing coverts, also use range.

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged) 

Locality:  Southeastern Turkmenistan, extreme northern Iran and Afghanistan. **"Southern Russian Turkestan to Northern Afagnistan. Chiefly  in the Tejend Valley, West to 50 miles east of Askhahbad, North to the Kara Kum Desert, South to the Murghab Valley and the oases of Merv, Yelotan and Pandj-deg". 

rump color: Dark Brown

collar: none

Identification notes: rare, identification information poorly known other than range, look for the contrasting green and purple-maroon throat.

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged) 

Locality: Xinjiang

rump color: Dark Brown

collar: none 

Identification notes: Use range, lack of collar and wing coverts.

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged)* 

Locality:  Amu Darya Delta (western Uzbekistan and northern Turkmenistan)

rump color: Dark brown

collar: thin

Notes: rare in the wild, greenish plumage on the front diagnostic of the subspecies.

Identification notes: Best identified by range

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged)* 

Locality: Bukhara, Zeravshan and Kashkadarya Valleys of Southern Uzbekistan.

rump color:  Dark brown

collar: thin

Identification notes: Best identified by range

Subspecies group: principlais-chrysomelas (white-winged)* 

Locality: Central valleys of the river Amu Darya on the eastern Turkmenistan–Uzbekistan border.

rump color: Orange-brown

collar: rare, and thin when present.

Identification notes: Range and glossy-green throat.

Subspecies group: colchicus (black-necked)

Locality: Bulgaria and Greece through Turkey to eastern Georgia, eastern Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Armenia and northwestern Iran.

rump color: brown

collar:  none 

notes: The most widespread of the "black-necked pheasants". Commonly released as a gamebird. Possibly the ancestral population of the "old English blackneck"

Identification notes: Fine, even white spots on the back. 

Subspecies group: colchicus (black-necked)*

Locality:  Dagestan to north of the Volga Delta 

rump color: Brown 

collar: none 

Identification notes: large,  white spots on the back. Golden-orange nape that contrasts against the dark rump.

Subspecies group: colchicus (black-necked)

Locality: Transcaucasia and Caspian lowlands of Iran **" The Southern coasts of the Caspian sea to Kizil Agatch, to the Province of Mazanderan".

rump color: brown 

collar: none

notes: exceptionally rare and declining 

Identification notes: Fine, even white spots on the back, overall warm orange plumage, little contrast of wing plumage. Range important for ID.

Subspecies group: colchicus (black-necked)

Locality: Southwest Turkmenistan and northcentral Iran

rump color: brown

collar: none

notes: Rare, population may be as low as 900 individuals. Considered by some to be an intermediate between talischensis and principals.

Identification notes: Overall warm orange plumage, wing pulmage bright white and contrasting.

Notes: this mutant form is commonly released as a gamebird.  Amount of green is variable based on the individual.

Notes: this mutant form is occasionally released as a gamebird.

Notes: this hybrid is sometimes seen where both species are introduced.