 In 1901, W L Abbott collected specimens from Little Nicobar which were described in 1919 by H C Oberholser as a new subspecies "abbotti", distinguished by its darker brown plumage.The species is found only in the Nicobar Islands.This range is so well separated from the main megapode distribution (especially of the genus "Megapodius") that in 1911, it was suggested, on the basis that many megapodes were domesticated and transported by native islanders, that it may have been introduced into the Nicobar Islands.