{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}
{{Taxobox
|name = Galliformes
|image = Sonnerathuhn.jpg
|image_width = 240px
|image_caption = Male
Grey JunglefowlThe Grey Junglefowl , also known as Sonnerat's Junglefowl, is a wild relative of domestic fowl found in India.-Description:...
,
Gallus sonneratii
|regnum =
AnimalAnimals are a major group of mostly multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously...
ia
|phylum = Chordata
|classis = Aves
|subclassis = Neornithes
|infraclassis = Galloanserae
|ordo =
Galliformes
|ordo_authority =
TemminckCoenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch aristocrat and zoologist.Temminck was the first director of the National Natural History Museum at Leiden from 1820 until his death. His Manuel d'ornithologie, ou Tableau systematique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe was the standard work on European birds...
, 1820
|subdivision_ranks =
FamiliesIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
|subdivision =
Megapodiidae
CracidaeThe chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae.These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. One species, the Plain Chachalaca, just reaches southernmost Texas in the USA...
Odontophoridae
Numididae
PhasianidaeThe Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, containing 38 genera and around 138 species...
and see text
|synonyms =
Craciformes
Gallomorphae
}}
Galliformes are an
orderIn scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
of
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
s containing
turkeysA turkey is either of two living species of large birds in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America...
,
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
,
chickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other bird...
s,
quailQuail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae. New World quails and buttonquails are not closely related but named for their similar appearance and behaviour....
s, and
pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
s. More than 250 living
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
are found worldwide. Common names are
gamefowl or
gamebirds,
landfowl,
gallinaceous birds or
galliforms.
"Wildfowl" or just
"fowlFowl is a word for birds in general but usually refers to birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfowl and the waterfowl...
" are also often used for Galliformes, but usually these terms also refer to
waterfowlWaterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans.They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies. They have historically been an important food source, and continue to be hunted as game, or raised as...
, and occasionally to other commonly-hunted birds.
Description
These birds vary in size from the diminutive
Asian Blue QuailThe Asian Blue Quail, Coturnix chinensis also known as Chinese Painted Quail, King Quail or Blue-breasted Quail is in the same family as the pheasants Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds....
(
Coturnix chinensis) at 12.5 centimetres (5 in) long and weighing 28 to 40
gramThe gram , ; symbol g, is a unit of mass.Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice" , a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or...
s (1 to 1.4
ozThe ounce is a unit of mass with several definitions, the most commonly used of which are equal to approximately 30 grams. The ounce is used in a number of different systems, including various systems of mass that form part of the imperial and United States customary systems...
) to the largest extant galliform species, the
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n
Wild TurkeyThe Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is one of two species of turkey, the other being the Ocellated Turkey, found in Central America....
(
Meleagris gallopavo), which may weigh as much as 14
kilogramThe kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units .[The spelling kilogram is the modern spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures , the U.S...]
s (about 30.5
lbThe pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement...
) and may exceed 120 centimetres (47 in).
The galliform bird species with the largest wing-span and largest overall length (including a train of over 6 feet) is most likely the
Green PeafowlThe Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus is a large Galliform bird that is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. The familiar Indian Peafowl diverged from the Green Peafowl approximately 70,000 years ago.-Description:...
(
Pavo muticus). Most galliform
generaGenera is a commercial operating system and development environment for Lisp machines developed by Symbolics. It is essentially a fork of an earlier operating system originating on the MIT AI Lab's Lisp machines which Symbolics had used in common with LMI and Texas Instruments...
are plump-bodied with thick necks and moderately long legs, and have rounded and rather short wings.
GrouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
,
pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
s,
francolinThe francolins are birds of the genus Francolinus. They are members of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Francolins are terrestrial birds of the Old World that feed on insects, vegetable matter and seeds. Most of the members have a hooked upper beak, tails with fourteen feathers and in many of...
s, and
partridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
s are typical in their outwardly corpulent silhouettes. While most galliforms are rather weak-flying,
flightlessFlightless birds are birds which lack the ability to fly, relying instead on their ability to run or swim, and are thought to have evolved from their flying ancestors. There are about forty species in existence today, the best known being the ostrich, emu, cassowary, rhea, kiwi, and penguins...
forms are unknown among the living members of the order. The
SylviornisSylviornis is an extinct genus of galliform bird containing a single species, S. neocaledoniae, or erroneously, "New Caledonian Giant Megapode". Technically, the latter is incorrect because it has recently been found not to be a megapode, but the sole known member of its own family, the...
, a huge prehistorically extinct mound-builder relative of
New CaledoniaNew Caledonia , is a "sui generis collectivity" of France located in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island , the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands...
, was flightless, but as opposed to most other flightless birds like
ratiteA ratite is any of a diverse group of large, flightless birds of Gondwanan origin, most of them now extinct. Unlike other flightless birds, the ratites have no keel on their sternum - hence their name, which comes from the Latin for raft...
s or island rails which become flightless due to
arrested developmentNeoteny , also called juvenilization, is the retention, by adults in a species, of traits previously seen only in juveniles , and is a subject studied in the field of developmental biology. In neoteny, the physiological development of an animal or organism is slowed or delayed...
of their flight apparatus and subsequently
evolveEvolve may refer to:*Evolve, as in Evolution.*Evolve on The History Channel*Evolve Festival, an annual music and cultural festival held in Nova Scotia, Canada.*Evolve Cars, an after-market manufacturer of sport-parts for Volvo cars....
to larger size, the Sylviornis seems to have become flightless simply due to its bulk, with the wing reduction following a consequence, not the reason for its flightlessness. There are a number of prehistorically extinct mound-builders from Pacific islands, and these seem to have arrived at flightlessness in the more conventional way.
Adult males of many galliform birds have one to several sharp horny spurs on the back of each leg, which they use for fighting. In several lineages, there is pronounced
sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include colour , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks.-Examples:In...
, and among each galliform
cladeA clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.[The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article...]
, the more apomorphic ("advanced") lineages tend to be more sexually dimorphic.
Ecology
Most of the galliform birds are more or less resident, but some of the smaller
temperateIn geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally mild, rather than extreme hot or cold. But in continental areas, such as central North America the variations between summer...
species (such as
quailQuail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the pheasant family Phasianidae. New World quails and buttonquails are not closely related but named for their similar appearance and behaviour....
) do
migrateBird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. These however are usually irregular or in only one direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions,...
over considerable distances. Altitudinal migration is evidently quite common amongst
montaneIn biogeography, montane is the highland area located below the subalpine zone. Montane regions generally have cooler temperatures and often have higher rainfall than the adjacent lowland regions, and are frequently home to distinct communities of plants and animals.The term "montane" means "of the...
species and a few species of subtropical and
subarcticThe Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, southern Greenland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang...
regions must reach their watering and/or foraging areas through sustained flight. Species known to make extensive flights include the ptarmigans,
sage-grouseThe sage-grouse are the species in the bird genus Centrocercus. They are large grouse from temperate North America. Adults have a long, pointed tail and legs with feathers to the toes. Like in most Galliformes, there is pronounced sexual dimorphism....
(
Centrocercus), Crested Wood-partridge, Green Peafowl, Crested Argus, Mountain Peacock-pheasant (
Polyplectron inopinatum),
KoklassThe Koklass Pucrasia macrolopha is a species of the Pheasant family, Phasianidae, and is the only species in the genus Pucrasia.Koklass Pheasant is a monotypic species of genus Pucrasia with nine subspecies recognised so far. These are:...
(
Pucrasia macrolopha),
Reeves's PheasantThe Reeves's Pheasant, Syrmaticus reevesii, is a large pheasant within the genus Syrmaticus. It is endemic to China....
(
Syrmaticus reevesii) and
Green JunglefowlThe Green Junglefowl, Gallus varius also known as Javan Junglefowl, Forktail or Green Javanese Junglefowl is a medium-sized, up to 75cm long, bird in the pheasants family Phasianidae. Recent molecular work has evealed that Junglefowl and Pheasants are not monophyletic...
(
Gallus varius){{citation needed|date=July 2007}}. Other species—for example, most of the
New World quailThe New World quails are small birds only distantly related to the quails of the Old World, but named for their similar appearance and habits. The American species are in their own family Odontophoridae, whereas the Old World birds are in the pheasant family Phasianidae...
s (also known as the toothed quails), the enigmatic
Stone PartridgeThe Stone Partridge, Ptilopachus petrosus, is a bird of the pheasant family commonly found in Central Africa from the west coast to Kenya. It is the only member of the genus Ptilopachus....
(
Ptilopachus petrosus) of
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
,
guineafowlThe guineafowl are a family of birds in the Galliformes order, although some authorities include the guineafowl as a subfamily, Numidinae, of the family Phasianidae...
and eared-pheasants (
Crossoptilon)—are all notable for their daily excursions on foot which may take them many miles in a given day.
Some Galliformes are adapted to grassland
habitatThe term habitat has a number of meanings:* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows** Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
, and these genera are remarkable for their long, thin necks, long legs and large, wide wings. Fairly unrelated
speciesIn biology, a species is:* a taxonomic rank or* a unit at that rank ....
like the
Crested FirebackThe Crested Fireback, Lophura ignita is a medium-sized, up to 70 cm long, forest pheasant with a peacock-like dark crest, bluish black plumage, reddish brown rump, black outer tail feathers, red iris and bare blue facial skin...
(
Lophura ignita),
Vulturine GuineafowlThe Vulturine Guineafowl is the largest and most spectacular of the guineafowl bird family, Numididae, and is the only member of the genus Acryllium...
(
Acryllium vulturinum) and
MalleefowlThe Malleefowl is a stocky ground-dwelling Australian bird about the size of a domestic chicken...
(
Leipoa ocellata) are outwardly similar in their body types (see also
convergent evolutionConvergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are similar in...
).
Most species that show only limited
sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include colour , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks.-Examples:In...
are notable for the great amount of locomotion required to find food throughout the majority of the year. Those species that are highly sedentary but with marked ecological transformations over seasons exhibit marked distinct differences between the sexes in size and/or appearance. Eared-pheasants, guineafowls, toothed quails and the
Snow PartridgeThe Snow Partridge is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is a large spurred partridge found in the Himalayan regions of Pakistan and the Republic of India, Nepal and China....
(
Lerwa lerwa) are examples of limited sexual differences and requirements for traveling over wide terrain to forage.
The Bronze-tailed Peacock-pheasant (
Polyplectron chalcurum), Snow Partridge,
Painted SpurfowlThe Painted Spurfowl Galloperdix lunulata is a bird of the pheasant family found in rocky hill and scrub forests in India....
(
Galloperdix lunulata) and the
Crimson-headed PartridgeThe Crimson-headed Partridge is a species of bird in the Phasianidae family. It is found in Indonesia and Malaysia....
(
Haematortyx sanguiniceps) are notable in their habit of moving around as pairs not only on foot but also in the air.{{citation needed|date=February 2007}}
Food and feeding
Herbivorous to slightly omnivorous galliforms, comprising the majority of the group, are typically stoutly built and have short thick bills primarily adapted for foraging on the ground for rootlets or the consumption of other plant material such as
heatherCalluna vulgaris, known as Common Heather, ling, or simply heather, is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to , and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in...
shoots. The young birds will also take insects.
PeafowlThe term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. The African Congo Peafowl is placed in its own genus Afropavo and is not dealt with here. Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as part of courtship...
,
junglefowlJunglefowl are the four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the pheasant family, which occur in India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia....
and most of the subtropical pheasant genera have very different nutritional requirements from typical
PalearcticThe Palearctic or Palaearctic is one of the eight ecozones dividing the Earth surface.Physically, the Palearctic is the largest ecozone. It includes the terrestrial ecoregions of Europe, Asia north of the Himalaya foothills, northern Africa, and the northern and central parts of the Arabian...
genera. The
Himalayan MonalThe Himalayan Monal, Lophophorus impejanus also known as the Impeyan Monal or Impeyan Pheasant or Danphe is a bird of genus Lophophorus of the Pheasant family, Phasianidae...
(
Lophophorus impejanus) has been observed digging in the rotting wood of
deadfallDeadfall is a 1993 film directed by Christopher Coppola. Coppola co-wrote the Script with friend, Nick Vallelonga. Starring Michael Biehn, Nicolas Cage, Charlie Sheen, James Coburn, and Peter Fonda...
in a similar manner to
woodpeckerWoodpeckers are near passerine birds of the order Piciformes. They are one subfamily in the family Picidae, which also includes the piculets and wrynecks. They are found worldwide and include about 180 species....
s to extract
invertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a vertebral column. The group includes 95% of all animal species — all animals except those in the Chordate subphylum Vertebrata ....
s, even bracing itself with aid of its squared tail. The
Cheer PheasantThe Cheer Pheasant, Catreus wallichii also known as Wallich's Pheasant is an endangered species of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is the only member in monotypic genus Catreus....
(
Catreus wallichi),
Crested ArgusThe Crested Argus, Rheinardia ocellata, is a large and spectacular pheasant with dark-brown-spotted black and buff plumage, a pink bill, brown irises and blue skin around the eyes. The head is small, decorated with white erect crest feathers on the rear crown...
(
Rheinardia ocellata), the Crested Wood-partridge (
Rollulus roulroul) and the
Crested GuineafowlThe Crested Guineafowl is a member of the Numididae, the guineafowl bird family. It is found in open forest, woodland and forest-savanna mosaics in sub-Saharan Africa. It has a total length of approximately 50 cm and the plumage is overall blackish with dense white spots...
(
Guttera pucherani) are similar ecologically to the Himalayan Monal in that they too forage in rotting wood for
termiteThe termites are a group of eusocial insects usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera . Along with ants and some bees and wasps which are all placed in the separate order Hymenoptera, termites divide labour among gender lines, produce overlapping generations and take care of...
s,
antAnts are social insects of the family Formicidae , and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants...
and
beetleBeetles are the group of insects with the largest number of known species. They are classified in the order Coleoptera , which contains more described species than in any other order in the animal kingdom, constituting about 25% of all known life-forms...
larvaA larva is a young form of animal with indirect development, going through or undergoing metamorphosis ....
e, molluscs,
crustaceanCrustaceans are a very large group of arthropods, comprising almost 52,000 described species , and are usually treated as a subphylum . They include various familiar animals, such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles...
s and young rodents.
Typical peafowl (
Pavo), most of the peacock-pheasants (
Polyplectron), the
Bulwer's PheasantBulwer's Pheasant is also known as Bulwer's Wattled Pheasant, the Wattled Pheasant, or the White-tailed Wattled Pheasant. It is a Southeast Asian bird in the Phasianidae family; endemic to the forests of Borneo...
(
Lophura bulweri), the ruffed pheasants (
ChrysolophusChrysolophus is a genus of the pheasant family of birds.These are species which have spectacularly plumaged males. The Golden Pheasant is native to western China, and Lady Amherst's Pheasant to Tibet and westernmost China, but both have been widely introduced elsewhere...
) and the hill partridges (
ArborophilaArborophila is a genus of bird in the Phasianidae family.It contains the following species:* Hill Partridge * Sichuan Partridge * Chestnut-breasted Partridge...
) have narrow, relatively delicate bills, poorly suited for digging. These Galliform genera prefer instead to capture live invertebrates in leaf litter, in sand and in shallow pools or along stream banks. These genera are also outwardly similar in that they each have exceptionally long, delicate legs and toes and the tendency to frequent seasonally wet habitats to forage, especially during chick-rearing. The Blue Peafowl (
Pavo cristatus) is famed in its native
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
for its appetite for snakes – even poisonous
cobraA cobra is a venomous snake, which is a member of the family Elapidae . The name is short for cobra de capelo , which is Portuguese for "snake with hood," or "hood-snake." When disturbed, most of these snakes can rear up and spread their neck in a characteristic threat display...
s – which it dispatches with its strong feet and sharp bill. The
Lady Amherst's PheasantThe Lady Amherst's Pheasant, Chrysolophus amherstiae, is a bird of the order Galliformes and the family Phasianidae.These are native to south western China and Myanmar, but have been introduced elsewhere, and have established a self-supporting, but now declining, feral population in England, the...
(
Chrysolophus amherstiae), Green Peafowl (
Pavo muticus), Bulwer's Pheasant and the
Crestless FirebackThe Crestless Fireback is a species of bird in the Phasianidae family.It is found in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests....
(
Lophura erythrophthalma) are notable for their aptitude to forage for crustaceans such as crayfish and other aquatic small animals in shallow streams and amongst rushes in much the same manner as some members of the rail family (
RallidaeThe rails, or Rallidae, are a large cosmopolitan family of small to medium-sized birds. The family exhibits considerable diversity and the family also includes the crakes, coots, and gallinules...
).
The tragopans (
TragopanTragopan is a genus of bird in the family Phasianidae. These birds are commonly called "horned pheasants" because of two brightly-colored, fleshy horns on their heads that they can erect during courtship displays...
),
Mikado PheasantThe Mikado Pheasant, Syrmaticus mikado, is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is endemic to mountainous regions of Taiwan....
(
Syrmaticus mikado) and several species of
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
and
ptarmiganThe Rock Ptarmigan, Lagopus muta Lagopus, is derived from Ancient Greek lagos , meaning "hare", + pous , "foot", in reference to the bird's feathered legs . The species name, muta, comes from New Latin and means "mute", referring to the simple croaking song of the male...
are exceptional in their largely vegetarian and arboreal foraging habitats; grouse are especially notable for being able to feed on plants rich in
terpeneTerpenes are a large and varied class of hydrocarbons, produced primarily by a wide variety of plants, particularly conifers, though also by some insects such as termites or swallowtail butterflies, which emit terpenes from their osmeterium....
s and quinones – such as
sagebrushSagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
or conifers -, which are often avoided by other herbivores. But many species of moderate altitudes—for example the long-tailed pheasants of the genus
SyrmaticusThe genus Syrmaticus contains the five species of long-tailed pheasants. The males have short spurs and usually red facial wattles, but otherwise differ wildly in appearance...
—also find a great deal of their daily nutritional reqirements in the
tree canopiesIn biology, the canopy is the aboveground portion of a plant community or crop, formed by plant crowns.For forests, canopy also refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms .Sometimes the term canopy is used to refer to the extent...
, especially during the snowy and rainy periods when foraging on the ground is dangerous and less than fruitful for a variety of reasons. Although members of the genus
Syrmaticus are capable of subsisting almost entirely on vegetarian materials for months at a time, this is not true for many of the subtropical genera. For example, the
Great ArgusThe Great Argus, Argusianus argus is a brown-plumaged pheasant with a small blue head and neck, rufous red upper breast, black hair-like feathers on crown and nape, and red legs. The male is among the largest of all pheasants, with up to 200cm in length. It has very long tail feathers...
(
Argusianus argus) and Crested Argus may do most of their foraging during rainy months in the canopy of the jungle as well. There they are known to forage on
slugSlug is a common word, normally applied to any gastropod mollusc that lacks a shell, has a very reduced shell, or has a small internal shell, in contrast to snails, which are gastropods with coiled shells that are big enough to retract into. All slugs are descended from snails that gradually lost...
s,
snailThe word snail is a common name for almost all members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word snail is used in a general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. Snails lacking a shell or having only a very small one are...
s, ants and
amphibianAmphibians , such as frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians, are ectothermic animals that metamorphose from a juvenile water-breathing form, to an adult air-breathing form. Though amphibians typically have four limbs, the Caecilians are notable for being limbless. Unlike other land...
s to the exclusion of plant material. How they forage in the forest canopy during the rainy months is unknown but is a compelling issue for future investigations.
Reproduction
Most galliforms are very prolific, with
clutchA clutch of eggs refers to all the eggs produced by birds or reptiles often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest.-Size:Clutch size will differ greatly between species, sometimes even within the same genus. It may also differ within the same species due to many factors including...
es regularly exceeding 10 eggs in many species. In contrast to most birds which are – at least for a particular breeding season – monogamous, galliforms are often polygynous or polygamous. Such species can be recognized by their pronounced
sexual dimorphismSexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species. Examples include colour , size, and the presence or absence of parts of the body used in courtship displays or fights, such as ornamental feathers, horns, antlers or tusks.-Examples:In...
.
Galliform young are very precocious and will roam their habitat with their mothers – or both parents in monogamous species – mere hours after hatching. The most extreme case are the Megapodidae, where the adults do not brood but leave
incubationIncubation is the process by which birds hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of sitting on eggs to incubate...
to mounds of rotting vegetation, volcanic ash or hot sand. The young have to dig their way out of the nest mounds after hatching, but they emerge from the eggs fully feathered and as soon as they leave the mound, they are able to fly for considerable distances.
Systematics and evolution
The living Galliformes were long divided into some 7 or more
familiesIn biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus...
. More recently, it is generally believed that the quite distincly-appearing
grouseGrouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are often considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
and turkeys do not warrant separation as families due to their quite recent origin from
partridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
- or
pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
-like birds. As it seems, the turkeys became huge after their ancestors colonized temperate and subtropical
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
where pheasant-sized competitors were absent. The ancestors of grouse, on the other hand, adapted to harsh climate and thus grouse could colonize
subarcticThe Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, southern Greenland, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, northern Mongolia and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang...
regions. Consequently the
PhasianidaeThe Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, containing 38 genera and around 138 species...
are expanded in current treatments to include the former Tetraonidae and Meleagrididae as subfamilies.
The
AnseriformesThe order Anseriformes contains about 150 living species of birds in three extant families: the Anhimidae , Anseranatidae , and the Anatidae, which includes over 140 species of waterfowl, among them the ducks, geese, and swans.All species in the order are highly adapted for an aquatic existence at...
(
waterfowlWaterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans.They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies. They have historically been an important food source, and continue to be hunted as game, or raised as...
) and the Galliformes together make up the Galloanserae. They are basal among the living
neognathousNeognaths are birds within the subclass Neornithes of the class Aves. The Neognathae include virtually all living birds; their sister taxon Palaeognathae contains the tinamous - their only order capable of flight - as well as the flightless ratites.There are nearly 10,000 species of neognaths...
birds, and normally follow the
PaleognathaeThe Palaeognathae or paleognaths are one of the two living superorders of birds. The other living superorder is Neognathae. Together these two clades form the subclass Neornithes....
(ratites and tinamous) in modern bird classification systems. This was first proposed in the
Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomyThe Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy is a radical bird taxonomy proposed by Charles Sibley and Jon Edward Ahlquist. It is based on DNA-DNA hybridization studies conducted in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s....
and has been the one major change of that proposed scheme that was almost universally adopted. On the other hand, the Galliformes as they were traditionally delimited are called
Gallomorphae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, which splits the
CracidaeThe chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae.These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. One species, the Plain Chachalaca, just reaches southernmost Texas in the USA...
and Megapodidae as an
orderIn scientific classification used in biology, the order is# a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, family, genus, and species, with order fitting in between class and family...
"Craciformes". This is not a natural group however, but rather an erroneous result of the now-obsolete phenetic methodology employed in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Phenetic studies do not distinguish between plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters, which leads to basal lineages appearing as monophyletic groups.
Historically, the
buttonquailButtonquail or hemipodes are members of a small family of birds, Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. They inhabit warm grasslands in Asia, Africa, and Australia.-Biology:...
s (Turnicidae),
mesiteThe mesites are a family of birds of uncertain affinities. They are smallish, near flightless birds endemic to Madagascar. Generally brownish with paler undersides, they are of somewhat pheasant-like appearance and were initially placed with the Galliformes...
s (Mesitornithidae) and the
HoatzinThe Hoatzin , also known as the Hoactzin, Stinkbird, or Canje "Pheasant", is an unusual species of tropical bird found in swamps, riverine forest and mangrove of the Amazon and the Orinoco delta in South America...
(
Opisthocomus hoazin) were placed in the Galliformes too. The former are now known to be shorebirds adapted to an inland lifestyle, whereas the mesites are probably related to at least some of the birds traditionally in the "
GruiformesThe polyphyletic order Gruiformes contains a considerable number of living and extinct bird families with little in common. They are morphologically diverse and geographically widespread. Gruiform means "crane-like."...
" assemblage. The relationships of the Hoatzin are entirely obscure, and it is usually treated as a
monotypicIn biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one type. The usage differs slightly between botany and zoology:In botany, a monotypic taxon is a taxon that has only one species: Ginkgo is a monotypic genus, while Ginkgoaceae is a monotypic family...
order Opisthocomiformes to signify this.
Evolution
Given that the oldest known waterfowl,
Vegavis iaai, dates from the
Late CretaceousThe Late Cretaceous is the youngest of two epochs in which the Cretaceous period is divided in the geologic timescale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous series...
, galliform ancestors must also have roamed the Earth contemporaneously with animals such as
Tyrannosaurus rexTyrannosaurus was a genus of theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids...
.
Indeed, there exist a few fragmentary
fossilFossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous rock formations and sedimentary layers is known as the fossil record...
s of putative galliforms from the
CretaceousThe Cretaceous , Latin language for "chalky", usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago . In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...
, of which the most interesting fossil
taxon|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement. Defining what belongs or does not belong to such a...
is
Austinornis. Formerly referred to as
IchthyornisIchthyornis is a genus of seabird from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Its fossil remains are known from the chalks of Alberta, Alabama, Kansas, New Mexico, Saskatchewan, and Texas, in strata that were laid down in the Western Interior Seaway; some fossils from other locations like Argentina...
lentus,
GraculavusGraculavus is a prehistoric bird genus that was described by O. C. Marsh. Its remains were found in the Late Cretaceous Austin Chalk of Texas and Lance Formation , and the controversial Hornerstown Formation which straddles the Cretaceous-Paleocene boundary, possibly dating to the Danian stage...
lentus or
Pedioecetes lentus, its partial left
tarsometatarsusThe tarsometatarsus is a bone that is found in the lower leg of certain tetrapods, namely birds.It is formed from the fusion of several bones found in other types of animals, and homologous to the mammalian tarsal and metatarsal bones....
was found in the Late Cretaceous Austin Chalk near Fort McKinney, Texas. This bird was quite certainly closely related to Galliformes, but whether it was a part of these or belongs elsewhere in the little-known galliform branch of Galloanserae is not clear.
Other
MesozoicThe Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic eon. The division of time into eras dates back to Giovanni Arduino, in the 18th century, although his original name for the era now called the "Mesozoic" was "Secondary" The Mesozoic Era is one of three geologic eras of the...
fossils are referred to the Galliformes with considerably less certainty: The very enigmatic
GallornisGallornis is a genus of prehistoric bird from the Cretaceous. It is of fairly indeterminate age and extremely fragmentary.- Overview :Yet it provides a tantalizing glimpse at an apparently crucial point in avian evolution...
living in today's
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
some 140–130 million years ago (mya) was as far as anyone can tell an
ornithuranOrnithurae is the name of a natural group or infraclass of terrestrial and flightless birds endemic to what would be North America, Europe, and Asia during the Mesozoic living from 145.5—65.5 mya, existing for approximately ....
. But although the possibility that it was a very early galliform cannot be positively excluded, its ancient age makes this seem not particularly likely. The case of
Austinornis shows that it is certainly possible to confuse a putative galliform with more primitive ornithurans like
Ichthyornis.
Specimen PVPH 237 from the Late Cretaceous
Portezuelo FormationThe Portezuelo Formation is a geologic formation outcropping in the Mendoza, Río Negro and Neuquén provinces of Argentina. It is the fourth-oldest formation in the Neuquén Group and the older of the two formations in the Río Neuquén Subgroup...
(
TuronianThe Turonian is, in the ICS' geologic timescale, the second age in the Late Cretaceous epoch, or a stage in the Upper Cretaceous series. It spans the time between 93.5 ± 0.8 Ma and 89.3 ± 1 Ma...
-
ConiacianThe Coniacian is an age or stage in the geologic timescale. It is a subdivision of the Late Cretaceous epoch or Upper Cretaceous series and spans the time between 89.3 ± 1 Ma and 85.8 ± 0.7 Ma...
, about 90 mya) in the Sierra de Portezuelo (
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
) makes a far more plausible galliform candidate. This is a partial
coracoidThe coracoid process is a small hook-like structure on the lateral edge of the superior anterior portion of the scapula. Pointing laterally forward, it, together with the acromion, serves to stabilize the shoulder joint...
of a neornithine bird, which in its general shape and particularly the wide and deep attachment for the muscle joining the coracoid and the
humerusThe humerus is a long bone in the arm or forelimb that runs from the shoulder to the elbow....
(upper arm) bone resembles the more basal lineages of galliforms.
The
PaleogeneThe Paleogene is a geologic period and system that began 65.5 ± 0.3 and ended 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and comprises the first part of the Cenozoic era...
had several galliforms of now-extinct families, namely the Gallinuloididae, Paraortygidae and Quercymegapodiidae. In the early
CenozoicThe Cenozoic Era The Cenozoic (also Cænozoic or Cainozoic) Era The Cenozoic (also Cænozoic or Cainozoic) Era (meaning "new life" (Greek (kainos), "new", and (zoe), "life"), is the most recent of the three classic geological eras and covers the period from 65.5 million years ago to the...
, there are some additional birds that may or may not be early Galliformes, though even if they are, it is rather unlikely that these belong to extant families:
- †Argillipes (London Clay Early Eocene of England)
- †Coturnipes (Early Eocene of England, and Virginia, USA?)
- †Paleophasianus (Willwood Early Eocene of Bighorn County, USA)
- †Percolinus (London Clay Early Eocene of England)
- †Amitabha (Bridger middle Eocene of Forbidden City, USA) – phasianid?
- †"Palaeorallus" alienus (middle Oligocene of Tatal-Gol, Mongolia)
- †Anisolornis (Santa Cruz Middle Miocene of Karaihen, Argentina)
From the mid-
EoceneThe Eocene epoch, lasting from 55.8 ± 0.2 to 33.9 ± 0.1 Ma , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Palaeogene period in the Cenozoic era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Paleocene epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene epoch. The start of the...
onwards – about 45 mya or so -, modern-type galliforms are known, and these completely replace their older relatives in the early
NeogeneThe Neogene is a geologic period and system starting 23.03 ± 0.05 million years ago and lasting either until today or ending 2.588 million years ago with the beginning of the Quaternary. The Neogene Period follows the Paleogene Period of the Cenozoic Era...
. Since the earliest representatives of living galliform families apparently belong to the
PhasianidaeThe Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, containing 38 genera and around 138 species...
– the youngest family of galliforms -, the other families of Galliformes must be at least of Early Eocene origin but might even be as old as the Late Cretaceous. The
ichnotaxonAn ichnotaxon is defined by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as "a taxon based on the fossilized work of an organism". Ichnotaxa are names used to identify and distinguish morphologically distinctive ichnofossils, more commonly known as trace fossils...
Tristraguloolithus cracioides is based on fossil eggshell fragments from the Late Cretaceous
Oldman FormationThe Oldman Formation is the middle member of the Judith River Group, a major geologic unit in southern Alberta. The formation is widely recognized as bearing a great number of well preserved dinosaur skeletons, as well as other fossils....
of southern Alberta, Canada which are similar to
chachalacaChachalacas are one of the groups of cracid birds. They all belong into the genus Ortalis. They were formerly united with the similar-looking guans into a subfamily, but are probably closer to the curassows ....
eggs, but in the absence of bone material their relationships cannot be determined except that they are apparently not from a non-
avianBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
dinosaur{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Otheruses}}{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}{{Taxobox|name = Dinosaurs|fossil_range = {{Fossil range|230|65|earliest=230|latest=0|PS=
Descendant taxon Aves survives to present.}}|image = field_dinos_2.jpg...
.
Modern genera of phasianids start appearing around the
Oligo-The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly...
/
MioceneThe Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.33 million years before the present . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the...
boundary, roughly 25–20 mya. It is not well known whether the living genera of the other, older, galliform families originated around the same time or earlier, though at least in the New World quails, pre-Neogene forms seem to belong to genera that became entirely extinct later on.
A number of Paleogene to mid-Neogene fossils are quite certainly Galliformes, but their exact relationships in the order cannot be determined:
- †Austinornis (Austin Chalk Late Cretaceous of Fort McKinney, USA) – tentatively placed here, formerly Graculavus/Ichthyornis/Pedioecetes lentus
- †Procrax (middle Eocene? – Early Oligocene) – cracid? gallinuloidid?
- †Palaeortyx (middle Eocene -? Early Pliocene) – phasianid or odontophorid
- †Palaeonossax (Brule Late Oligocene of South Dakota, USA) – cracid?
- †Taoperdix (Late Oligocene) – gallinuloidid? Includes "Tetrao" pessieti
- †Archaealectrornis (Oligocene) – phasianid?
- †Galliformes gen. et sp. indet. (Oligocene) – formerly in Gallinuloides; phasianid?
- †Archaeophasianus (Oligocene? – Late Miocene) – phasianid? (tetraonine?)
- †Palaealectoris (Agate Fossil Beds Early Miocene of Sioux County, USA) – tetraonine?
- †Linquornis (middle Miocene)
- †Palaeoalectoris (Xiacaowan middle Miocene of Sihong, China)
- †Shandongornis (middle Miocene)
- †"Cyrtonyx" tedfordi (Barstow Late Miocene of Barstow, USA)
List of major taxa
For a long time, the pheasants, partridges and relatives were indiscriminately lumped in the
PhasianidaeThe Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, containing 38 genera and around 138 species...
, variously including or excluding turkeys, grouse, New World quails and guineafowl, and divided into two subfamilies – the Phasianinae (pheasant-like forms) and the Perdicinae (partridge-like forms). This crude arrangement was long considered to be in serious need of revision, but even with modern
DNA sequenceA DNA sequence or genetic sequence is a succession of letters representing the primary structure of a real or hypothetical DNA molecule or strand, with the capacity to carry information as described by the central dogma of molecular biology....
analyses and cladistic methods, the phylogeny of the Phasianidae has resisted complete resolution.
A tentative list of the higher-level galliform taxa, listed in evolutionary sequence, is:
- Family †Paraortygidae
- Family †Quercymegapodiidae
- Family †Sylviornithidae – Sylviornis
- Family Megapodidae – mound-builders and scrubfowl, or megapodes
- Family Cracidae
The chachalacas, guans and curassows are birds in the family Cracidae.These are species of tropical and subtropical Central and South America. One species, the Plain Chachalaca, just reaches southernmost Texas in the USA...
– chachalacas, guans and curassows
- Superfamily Phasianoidea
- Family †Gallinuloididae – tentatively placed here
- Family Odontophoridae – New World quail
- Family Numididae – guineafowl
- Family Phasianidae
The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl. The family is a large one, containing 38 genera and around 138 species...
– pheasantPheasants is subfamily of Phasianidae in the order Galliformes.Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in...
s, partridgePartridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
s and relatives
- Subfamily Arborophilinae – jungle- and wood-partridges
- Subfamily Coturnicinae – Old World quails, scrub-partridges and spurfowl
The spurfowls are the three species of bird in the genus Galloperdix of the pheasant family, Phasianidae.These are ground nesting birds. Red Spurfowl and Painted Spurfowl occur in dry scrub-jungle in India, whilst Sri Lanka Spurfowl is endemic to forests in Sri Lanka.Some species, like the...
- Subfamily Pavoninae – peafowl
The term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pavo of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. The African Congo Peafowl is placed in its own genus Afropavo and is not dealt with here. Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant tail, which it displays as part of courtship...
and ocellated pheasants
- Subfamily Gallininae – francolin
The francolins are birds of the genus Francolinus. They are members of the pheasant family, Phasianidae. Francolins are terrestrial birds of the Old World that feed on insects, vegetable matter and seeds. Most of the members have a hooked upper beak, tails with fourteen feathers and in many of...
s and junglefowlJunglefowl are the four living species of bird from the genus Gallus in the pheasant family, which occur in India, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia....
- Subfamily Meleagridinae – turkeys
- Subfamily Perdicinae – grey partridges (probably belong in either Meleagridinae or Phasianinae)
- Subfamily Tetraoninae – grouse
- Subfamily Phasianinae – true pheasants
The relationships of many pheasants and partridges are still very badly resolved and much confounded by
adaptive radiationAn adaptive radiation is a rapid evolutionary radiation characterized by an increase in the morphological and ecological diversity of a single, rapidly diversifying lineage. Phenotypes adapt in response to the environment, with new and useful traits arising...
(in the former) and
convergent evolutionConvergent evolution describes the acquisition of the same biological trait in unrelated lineages.The wing is a classic example of convergent evolution in action. Although their last common ancestor did not have wings, birds and bats do, and are capable of powered flight. The wings are similar in...
(in the latter). Thus, the bulk of the Phasianidae can alternatively be treated as a single subfamily Phasianinae. The grouse, turkeys, true pheasants etc would then become
tribeIn biology, a tribe — or infrafamily — is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.-See also:* Rank * Rank *International Code of Botanical Nomenclature...
s of this subfamily, similar of how the Coturnicinae are commonly split into a quail and a spurfowl tribe.
Note that the
taxon|thumb|270px|[[African elephants]] form a widely-accepted taxon, the [[genus]] LoxodontaA taxon is a group of organisms, which a taxonomist adjudges to be a unit. Usually a taxon is given a name and a rank, although neither is a requirement. Defining what belongs or does not belong to such a...
Perdicinae is tentatively limited to the genus
PerdixPerdix is a genus of partridges with representatives in most of temperate Europe and Asia. One member of the genus, the Grey Partridge, has been introduced to the United States and Canada....
and perhaps one or two others. That "the" partridge of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
is not closely related to other partridge-like Galliformes is already indicated by its sexually dimorphic coloration and numerous (more than 14) rectrices, traits it shares with the other advanced phasianids. However, among these its relationships are obscure; it is entirely unclear whether it is closer to the turkeys or to certain short-tailed pheasants like
Ithaginis,
Lophophorus,
Pucrasia and
TragopanTragopan is a genus of bird in the family Phasianidae. These birds are commonly called "horned pheasants" because of two brightly-colored, fleshy horns on their heads that they can erect during courtship displays...
.
External links
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