Ortygornis Explained

Ortygornis is a genus of birds in the francolin group of the family Phasianidae.

Taxonomy

The genus Ortygornis was introduced in 1852 by the German naturalist Ludwig Kaiser to accommodate a single species, the grey francolin, which is therefore the type species.^[1] The name combines the Ancient Greek ortux meaning "quail" with ornis meaning "bird".^[2]

The genus now contains three species, one found in Sub-Saharan Africa and two found South Asia (with one also being found in Iran). The species are:^[3]

Of the three species, the crested francolin was formerly placed in its own monotypic genus, Dendroperdix, while the two Asian species were formerly placed in Francolinus. Phylogenetic analyses support these three species grouping together as a distinct clade.^{[4] [5]}

Notes and References

1. Book: Reichenbach, Ludwig . Ludwig Reichenbach . 1852 . Handbuch der speciellen Ornithologie . 1 . German . Dresden und Leipzig . Expedition Vollständigsten Naturgeschichte . xxviii . For a discussion of the publication date see: Book: Dickinson . E.C. . Edward C. Dickinson . Overstreet . L.K. . Dowsett . R.J. . Bruce . M.D. . 2011 . Priority! The Dating of Scientific Names in Ornithology: a Directory to the literature and its reviewers . Northampton, UK . Aves Press . 978-0-9568611-1-5 . 134 .
2. Book: Jobling, James A. . 2010. The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names . Christopher Helm . London . 978-1-4081-2501-4 . 285 .
3. Web site: Gill . Frank . Frank Gill (ornithologist) . Donsker . David . Rasmussen . Pamela . Pamela Rasmussen . January 2022 . Pheasants, partridges, francolins . IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 . International Ornithologists' Union . 6 July 2022.
4. Mandiwana-Neudani . T.G. . Little . R.M. . Crowe . T.M. . Bowie . R.C. . 2019 . Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of African spurfowls Galliformes, Phasianidae, Phasianinae, Coturnicini: Pternistis spp. . Ostrich . 90 . 2 . 145–172 . 10.2989/00306525.2019.1584925. 2019Ostri..90..145M . 195417777 .
5. Kimball . R.T. . Hosner . P.A. . Braun . E.L. . 2021 . A phylogenomic supermatrix of Galliformes (Landfowl) reveals biased branch lengths . Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution . 158 . 107091 . 10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107091. 33545275 . 2021MolPE.15807091K . 231963063 .