Erckel's spurfowl (''Pternistis erckelii''), also known as Erckel's francolin, is a species of

game bird Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often ...

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 ...

Taxonomy

Erckel's spurfowl was described in 1935 by the German naturalist

Eduard Rüppell Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell (20 November 1794 – 10 December 1884) was a German Natural history, naturalist and List of explorers, explorer. Rüppell is occasionally transliterated to "Rueppell" for the English alphabet, due to german ort ...

from specimens collected in the mountains of 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 ...

''Perdix erckelii''. The

specific epithet 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 ...

was chosen by Rüppell to honour his assistant, Theodor Erckel (1811–1897), who had helped with the collection of specimens. The species is now placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Pternistis ''Pternistis'' is a genus of galliform birds formerly classified in the spurfowl group of the partridge subfamily of the pheasant family. They are described as "partridge-francolins" in literature establishing their phylogenetic placement out ...

'' that was introduced by the German naturalist

Johann Georg Wagler Johann Georg Wagler (28 March 1800 – 23 August 1832) was a German herpetologist and ornithologist. Wagler was assistant to Johann Baptist von Spix, and gave lectures in zoology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich after it was moved ...

in 1832. Erckel's spurfowl is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

: 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. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 found that Erckel's spurfowl was most closely related to the

Djibouti spurfowl The Djibouti spurfowl or Djibouti francolin (''Pternistis ochropectus'') is a bird species in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. It is critically endangered and found only in Djibouti, a nation in the Horn of Africa. This species is grayish-bro ...

Description

The largest African spurfowl, Erckel's spurfowl is in length, with females being slightly smaller than males. Males grow to , based on a sample of three specimens, and a single female specimen was observed to weigh . Males and females have similar plumage. The body is covered with stripes of chestnut-color, on its upperside and underside. It has a black face and bill, a chestnut-colored head top and back of neck, and yellow legs. It has white

ear covert A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

s and a single streak of white behind its eye.

Distribution and habitat

Erckel's spurfowl is native to the northern parts of Eritrea and Ethiopia, as well as northeast Sudan. In 1957, the species was introduced to Hawaii as a gamebird; it has also been introduced to Italy. It lives in areas above sea level, such as in the mountainous

Degua Tembien Dogu'a Tembien (, "Upper Tembien", sometimes transliterated as Degua Tembien) is a woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is named in part after the former province of Tembien. Nowadays, the mountainous district is part of the Southeastern Tigray ...

district. Although its exact population is unknown, it is a common species with an estimated range of , causing it to be listed as a species of

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Behavior and ecology

Erckel's spurfowl can hunt alone or in pairs, in scrublands or at the edge of forests. Its diet consists of plants, such as berries, seeds, and shoots, as well as insects. It is frequently inactive, but if threatened it runs up a hill. It produces territorial calls, which consist of 15–20 notes and are made from clifftops and large rocks. The species' vocalizations are frequently repeated over a long period, and have been described as "an insane cackled laughter, speeding towards the end with a bouncing ball pattern". Eggs are laid during the rainy season from April to November, with the exact time depending on the location; they are laid in May and September to November in Ethiopia, while they are laid in April and May in Sudan.

References

External links

Xeno-canto: audio recordings of Erckel's spurfowl
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Erckel's spurfowl Erckel's spurfowl (''Pternistis erckelii''), also known as Erckel's francolin, is a species of game bird in the family Phasianidae. Taxonomy Erckel's spurfowl was described in 1935 by the German naturalist Eduard Rüppell from specimens colle ...

Birds of the Horn of Africa

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot