Bamboo partridges, sometimes called ridge partridges, are medium-sized non-migratory birds of the genus ''Bambusicola'' 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 ...

.They have a wide native distribution throughout Asia. They were formerly grouped in the

Perdicinae Perdicinae is a polyphyletic former subfamily of birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae, regrouping the partridges, Old World quails, and francolins. Although this subfamily was considered monophyletic and separated from the pheasants, trago ...

subfamily of the

(pheasants, quail, etc.). However, molecular research suggests that partridges are not a distinct

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

within the family Phasianidae, but that some species are closer to the

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera native range is restricted to Eurasia ...

s, while others are closer to the

junglefowl Junglefowl are the only four living species of bird from the genus ''Gallus'' in the bird order Galliformes, and occur in parts of South and Southeast Asia. They diverged from their common ancestor about 4–6 million years ago. Although origin ...

. Phylogenetic evidence supports the bamboo partridges as being the sister genus to the junglefowl.

Species

There are three species in the genus:

References

Bird genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Galliformes-stub