The harlequin quail (''Coturnix delegorguei'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

of bird in the family

Phasianidae The Phasianidae are a family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular gamebirds. The family is a large one ...

. It occurs in

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and in the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...

.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018.
The Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018
' The species is named after the collector, Adulphe Delegorgue.

Taxonomy

Head of Coturnix delegorguei - Herbert Goodchild

There are three subspecies: *''C. d. arabica'' Bannerman, 1929 – Southwest

*''C. d. delegorguei'' Delegorgue, 1847 –

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

*''C. d. histrionica'' Hartlaub, 1849 –

São Tomé Island São Tomé Island, at , is the largest island of São Tomé and Príncipe and is home in May 2018 to about 193,380 or 96% of the nation's population. The island is divided into six districts. It is located 2 km (1¼ miles) north of the equ ...

, Gulf of Guinea

Introductions

The uncontrolled introduction of domestic Japanese quail breeds into Kenya, as well as a noticeable population size reduction of wild African harlequin quail numbers in parts of Western Kenya has been reported.

References

External links

* Harlequin quail
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds

harlequin quail The harlequin quail (''Coturnix delegorguei'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It occurs in sub-Saharan Africa and in the Arabian Peninsula.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sull ...

Birds of the Gulf of Guinea Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa Birds of the Middle East

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub