The chestnut-naped spurfowl (''Pternistis castaneicollis'') is a species of bird in the pheasant family

Phasianidae The Phasianidae are a family (biology), family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Turkey bird, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular Game (hunti ...

. At in length and weighing , it is a large species of

spurfowl Spurfowl are two genera of birds: * ''Galloperdix'', from India and Sri Lanka * ''Pternistis ''Pternistis'' is a genus of galliform birds formerly classified in the spurfowl group of the partridge subfamily of the pheasant family. They are d ...

. It is found in Ethiopia and

Somaliland Somaliland,; ar, صوماليلاند ', ' officially the Republic of Somaliland,, ar, جمهورية صوماليلاند, link=no ''Jumhūrīyat Ṣūmālīlānd'' is a ''de facto'' sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still conside ...

. The population is believed to be stable but according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) there is insufficient data to make an estimate of the population.

Taxonomy

The chestnut-naped spurfowl was described in 1888 by the Italian zoologist Tommaso Salvadori based on a specimen collected near "Lago Ciar-Ciar" (now Haro Ch'erch'er Hayk') in the

Ahmar Mountains The Ahmar Mountains is a mountain range of the Ethiopian Highlands, located in the eastern Oromia Region of Ethiopia. The range has an average elevation of above sea level. The mountain range is located approximately south of Dire Dawa, fro ...

of central Ethiopia. He coined the

binomial name In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''Francolinus castaneicollis''. The species is now placed in the genus '' Pternistis'' that was introduced by the German naturalist Johann Georg Wagler in 1832. The specific epithet ''castaneicollis'' combines the Latin ''castaneus'' meaning "chestnut-brown" and the Modern Latin ''-collis'' meaning "necked". The chestnut-naped spurfowl is monotypic: no

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

are recognised.

Notes

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of the chestnut-naped spurfowl
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1261619 chestnut-naped spurfowl Birds of the Horn of Africa chestnut-naped spurfowl Taxonomy articles created by Polbot