The crested francolin (''Ortygornis sephaena'') is a species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
in the 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 ...
.
It is found in southern Africa. One of its subspecies, ''Ortygornis sephaena rovuma'', is sometimes considered a separate species, Kirk's francolin.
Taxonomy
Formerly, the crested francolin was classified in its own genus ''Dendroperdix'', but phylogenetic analysis indicates that it groups with the
grey francolin
The grey francolin (''Ortygornis pondicerianus''), also known as "manu moa" or "chicken bird", is a species of francolin found in the plains and drier parts of the Indian subcontinent and Iran. This species was formerly also called the grey partr ...
(''O. pondicerianus'') and
swamp francolin
The swamp francolin (''Ortygornis gularis''), also called swamp partridge, is a francolin species native to the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India and Nepal. It is considered extinct in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. It is ...
(''O. gularis''). As a result, all three species were reclassified into the genus ''Ortygornis''.
Subspecies
Subspecies include:
* ''O. s. grantii''
(Hartlaub, 1866)
* ''O. s. rovuma''
(Gray, GR, 1867) - Kirk's francolin
* ''O. s. spilogaster''
(Salvadori, 1888)
* ''O. s. zambesiae''
(Mackworth-Praed, 1920)
* ''O. s. sephaena''
(Smith, A, 1836)
References
External links
* Crested Francolin
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Birds described in 1836
Ortygornis
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{Galliformes-stub