Buttonquail or hemipodes are members of a small family of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s, Turnicidae, which resemble, but are not closely related to, the

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

s of

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

. They inhabit warm

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominance (ecology), dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes such as clover, and other Herbaceo ...

s in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. There are 18 species in two genera, with most species placed in the genus '' Turnix'' and a single species in the genus '' Ortyxelos''. Buttonquails are small, drab, running birds, which avoid flying. The female is the more richly colored of the sexes. While the quail-plover is thought to be

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g. ...

, ''Turnix'' buttonquails are sequentially polyandrous: both sexes cooperate in building a nest in the earth, but normally only the male incubates the eggs and tends the young, while the female may go on to mate with other males.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Turnix'' was introduced in 1791 by French naturalist in Pierre Bonnaterre. The genus name is an abbreviation of the genus '' Coturnix''. The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

was subsequently designated as the common buttonquail. The buttonquail family, Turnicidae, was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist

George Robert Gray George Robert Gray (8 July 1808 – 6 May 1872) was an English zoology, zoologist and author, and head of the Ornithology, ornithological section of the British Museum, now the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum, London f ...

. The buttonquails were traditionally placed in Gruiformes or

Galliformes Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

(the crane and pheasant orders). The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy elevated them to ordinal status as the Turniciformes and basal to other

Neoaves Neoaves is a clade that consists of all modern bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard ...

either because their accelerated rate of

molecular evolution Molecular evolution describes how Heredity, inherited DNA and/or RNA change over evolutionary time, and the consequences of this for proteins and other components of Cell (biology), cells and organisms. Molecular evolution is the basis of phylogen ...

exceeded the limits of sensitivity of DNA-DNA hybridization or because the authors did not perform the appropriate pairwise comparisons or both. Morphological, DNA-DNA hybridization and

sequence In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is cal ...

data indicate that turnicids correctly belong to the shorebirds (

Charadriiformes Charadriiformes (, from '' Charadrius'', the type genus of family Charadriidae) is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. It includes about 390 species and has members in all parts of the world. Most charadriiform birds live near water ...

). They seem to be an ancient group among these, as indicated by the buttonquail-like

Early Oligocene The Rupelian is, in the geologic timescale, the older of two age (geology), ages or the lower of two stage (stratigraphy), stages of the Oligocene epoch (geology), Epoch/series (stratigraphy), Series. It spans the time between . It is preceded b ...

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

'' Turnipax'' and the collected molecular data.

Description

The buttonquails are a group of small terrestrial birds. The smallest species is the quail-plover, the only species in the genus ''Ortyxelos'', which is in length and weighs only . The buttonquails in the genus ''Turnix'' range from in length and weigh between . They superficially resemble the true quails of the genus '' Coturnix'', but differ from them in lacking a hind toe and a

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. In other words, a crop is a plant or plant product that is grown for a specific purpose such as food, Fiber, fibre, or fuel. When plants of the same spe ...

. The females of this family also possess a unique vocal organ created by an enlarged trachea and inflatable bulb in the esophagus, which they use to produce a booming call.

Breeding

Buttonquails are unusual in that females are serially polyandrous. The nest is a scape on the ground often near overhanging vegetation. The female lays a clutch of 4 or 5 eggs and then looks for a new mate. The male incubates the eggs which hatch synchronously after 12 to 15 days. The precocial chicks leave the nest soon after hatching and are cared for by the male. They can fly at two weeks of age and become independent at four weeks. For the smaller species sexual maturity is reached at three months.

Species

Family: Turnicidae * Genus: ''Ortyxelos'' ** Quail-plover, ''Ortyxelos meiffrenii'' * Genus: '' Turnix'' ** Common buttonquail, ''Turnix sylvaticus'' *** Tawitawi common buttonquail, ''Turnix sylvaticus suluensis'' (

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

: mid-20th century) *** Andalusian common buttonquail, ''Turnix sylvaticus sylvaticus'' (possibly

: late 20th century?) ** Red-backed buttonquail, ''Turnix maculosus'' ** Fynbos buttonquail, ''Turnix hottentottus'' ** Black-rumped buttonquail, ''Turnix nanus'' ** Yellow-legged buttonquail, ''Turnix tanki'' ** Spotted buttonquail, ''Turnix ocellatus'' ** Barred buttonquail, ''Turnix suscitator'' ** Madagascar buttonquail, ''Turnix nigricollis'' ** Black-breasted buttonquail, ''Turnix melanogaster'' ** Chestnut-backed buttonquail, ''Turnix castanotus'' ** Buff-breasted buttonquail, ''Turnix olivii'' ** Painted buttonquail, ''Turnix varius'' *** Abrolhos painted buttonquail, ''Turnix varius scintillans'' ** New Caledonian buttonquail, ''Turnix novaecaledoniae'' ( possibly extinct: early 20th century) ** Worcester's buttonquail, ''Turnix worcesteri'' ** Sumba buttonquail, ''Turnix everetti'' ** Red-chested buttonquail, ''Turnix pyrrhothorax'' ** Little buttonquail, ''Turnix velox''

Gallery

File:Barred buttonquail Nandihills 18July2006bngbirds.jpg, Barred buttonquail (''Turnix suscitator'') File:Turnix sylvatica.jpg, Small buttonquail (''Turnix sylvatica'') File:Paainted Buttonquail kobble08.JPG, Painted buttonquail (''Turnix varia'') File:Turnix pyrrhothorax.jpg, Red-chested buttonquail (''Turnix pyrrhothorax'')

References

* Sibley, Charles Gald & Ahlquist, Jon Edward (1990): ''Phylogeny and classification of birds''. Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn.

External links

Buttonquail videos
on the Internet Bird Collection {{Taxonbar, from=Q205320 Extant Rupelian first appearances