Buttonquail

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(Redirected from Turnicidae)

iButtonquail

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Turnicidae GR Gray, 1840

Image:Turnicidae rangmap.PNG

Distribution of the Buttonquails.

Genera

Turnix
Ortyxelos

The buttonquails or hemipodes are a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails.

Buttonquail were traditionally placed in Gruiformes or Phasianidae (the crane and pheasant orders). The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy elevated them to ordinal status as the Turniciformes either because their accelerated rate of molecular evolution exceeded the limits of sensitivity of the DNA-DNA hybridization technique or because the authors did not perform the appropriate pairwise comparisons or both. Recent molecular genetic studies (Paton et al., 2003; Fain & Houde, 2004) indicate that turnicids correctly belong among shorebirds (order Charadriiformes).

This is an Old World group, which inhabits warm grasslands.

These are small drab running birds, which avoid flying. The female is the brighter of the sexes, and initiates courtship. The male incubates the eggs and tends the young.

[edit] Species

All but one (the Quail-plover, Ortyxelos meiffrenii) of the 15 species are in the genus Turnix.

Small Buttonquail, or Andalusian Hemipode, Turnix sylvatica
Philippine Buttonquail, Turnix worcesteri
Sumba Buttonquail, Turnix everetti
Hottentot Buttonquail, Turnix hottentotta
Yellow-legged Buttonquail, Turnix tanki
Barred Buttonquail, Turnix suscitator
Madagascar Buttonquail, Turnix nigricollis
Spotted Buttonquail, Turnix ocellata
Black-breasted Buttonquail, Turnix melanogaster
Painted Buttonquail, Turnix varia
Chestnut-backed Buttonquail, Turnix castanota
Red-chested Buttonquail, Turnix pyrrhothorax
Red-backed Buttonquail, Turnix maculosa
Little Buttonquail, Turnix velox

[edit] References

Fain, M. G. & Houde, P. (2004): Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds. Evolution 58(11): 2558-2573. DOI: 10.1554/04-235 HTML abstract
Paton, T. A.; Baker, A. J.; Groth, J. G. & Barrowclough, G. F. (2003): RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 268-278. DOI: 10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8 HTML abstract
Sibley, C.G. & Ahlquist, J.E. (1990): Phylogeney and Classification of Birds. Yale University Press, New Haven.