24-567: The Barbary partridge ( Alectoris barbara ) is a gamebird in the pheasant family ( Phasianidae ) of the order Galliformes . It is native to North Africa. The Barbary partridge has its main native range in North Africa , and is also native to Gibraltar and the Canary Islands ( Alectoris barbara ssp. koenigi ). It has been introduced to continental Portugal and Madeira , though there are no recent records of this species on
48-588: A single subfamily Phasianinae. The grouse, turkeys, true pheasants, etc., would then become tribes of this subfamily, similar to how the Coturnicinae are commonly split into a quail and a spurfowl tribe. In 2021, Kimball et al . found the family to comprise three distinct subfamilies, with two containing multiple genera; these results were followed by the International Ornithological Congress . The partridge of Europe
72-473: Is not closely related to other partridge-like Galliformes, as already indicated by its sexually dimorphic coloration and possession of more than 14 rectrices , traits it shares with the other advanced phasianids. However, among these its relationships are obscure; it is unclear whether it is closer to the turkeys or to certain short-tailed pheasants like Ithaginis , Lophophorus , Pucrasia , and Tragopan . In 2021, Kimball et al . found it to belong to
96-666: Is widespread throughout the world, in introduced feral populations and in farm operations. Various other pheasant species are popular in aviaries , such as the golden pheasant ( Chrysolophus pictus ). According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the word "pheasant" ultimately comes from Phasis, the ancient name of what is now called the Rioni River in Georgia . It passed from Greek to Latin to French (spelled with an initial "f") then to English, appearing for
120-527: The Paleogene , namely the Gallinuloididae , Paraortygidae and Quercymegapodiidae . In the early Cenozoic , some additional birds may or may not be early Galliformes, though even if they are, they are unlikely to belong to extant families: From the mid- Eocene onwards – about 45 Mya or so, true galliforms are known, and these completely replace their older relatives in the early Neogene . Since
144-639: The Phasianidae are expanded in current taxonomy to include the former Tetraonidae and Meleagrididae as subfamilies . The Anseriformes ( waterfowl ) and the Galliformes together make up the Galloanserae . They are basal among the living neognathous birds, and normally follow the Paleognathae (ratites and tinamous) in modern bird classification systems. This was first proposed in
168-632: The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy and has been the one major change of that proposed scheme that was almost universally adopted. However, the Galliformes as they were traditionally delimited are called Gallomorphae in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, which splits the Cracidae and Megapodiidae as an order " Craciformes ". This is not a natural group, however, but rather an erroneous result of the now-obsolete phenetic methodology employed in
192-839: The family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes . Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eurasia. The classification "pheasant" is paraphyletic , as birds referred to as pheasants are included within both the subfamilies Phasianinae and Pavoninae , and in many cases are more closely related to smaller phasianids, grouse, and turkey (formerly classified in Perdicinae , Tetraoninae , and Meleagridinae ) than to other pheasants. Pheasants are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism , males being highly decorated with bright colours and adornments such as wattles . Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in rearing
216-480: The phylogeny of the Phasianidae has resisted complete resolution. A tentative list of the higher-level galliform taxa , listed in evolutionary sequence, is: The relationships of many pheasants and partridges were formerly very badly resolved and much confounded by adaptive radiation (in the former) and convergent evolution (in the latter). Thus, the bulk of the Phasianidae was alternatively treated as
240-542: The red-legged partridge . It is similar to the red-legged partridge, but it has a different head and neck pattern. The song is a noisy tre-tre-tre-tre-tre-cheeche-tre-tre-tre . This 33–36 cm bird is a resident breeder in dry, open and often hilly country. It nests in a scantily lined ground scrape laying 10-16 eggs . A few cases of breeding in trees in empty nest of African Magpie Pica mauretanica have been documented in Tunisia, probably to escape strong predation on
264-651: The Late Cretaceous Portezuelo Formation ( Turonian - Coniacian , about 90 Mya) in the Sierra de Portezuelo ( Argentina ) has also been suggested to be an early galliform relative. This is a partial coracoid of a neornithine bird, which in its general shape and particularly the wide and deep attachment for the muscle joining the coracoid and the humerus bone resembles the more basal lineages of galliforms. Additional galliform-like pangalliformes are represented by extinct families from
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#1732772056264288-427: The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy. Phenetic studies do not distinguish between plesiomorphic and apomorphic characters, which leads to basal lineages appearing as monophyletic groups. Historically, the buttonquails (Turnicidae), mesites (Mesitornithidae) and the hoatzin ( Opisthocomus hoazin ) were placed in the Galliformes, too. The former are now known to be shorebirds adapted to an inland lifestyle, whereas
312-708: The absence of bone material, their relationships cannot be determined except that they are apparently avian in origin. Modern genera of phasianids start appearing around the Oligocene - Miocene boundary, roughly 25–20 Mya. It is not well known whether the living genera of the other, older, galliform families originated around the same time or earlier, though at least in the New World quail, pre-Neogene forms seem to belong to genera that became entirely extinct later on. A number of Paleogene to mid-Neogene fossils are quite certainly Galliformes, but their exact relationships in
336-549: The ancestors of galliformes were small and lived in the ground (unlike water for Anseriformes ) which protected them from the blast and destruction. Fossils of these galliform-like birds originate in the Late Cretaceous , most notably those of Austinornis lentus . Its partial left tarsometatarsus was found in the Austin Chalk near Fort McKinney, Texas , dating to about 85 million years ago (Mya). This bird
360-621: The earliest representatives of living galliform families apparently belong to the Phasianidae – the youngest family of galliforms, the other families of Galliformes must be at least of Early Eocene origin but might even be as old as the Late Cretaceous. The ichnotaxon Tristraguloolithus cracioides is based on fossil eggshell fragments from the Late Cretaceous Oldman Formation of southern Alberta , Canada, which are similar to chachalaca eggs, but in
384-1027: The females, with often elaborate courtship behaviors that include strutting, fluffing of tail or head feathers, and vocal sounds. They are mainly nonmigratory. Several species have been domesticated during their long and extensive relationships with humans. The name galliformes derives from " gallus ", Latin for " rooster ". Common names are gamefowl or gamebirds , landfowl , gallinaceous birds , or galliforms . Galliforms and waterfowl (order Anseriformes ) are collectively called fowl . The living Galliformes were once divided into seven or more families . Despite their distinctive appearance, grouse and turkeys probably do not warrant separation as families due to their recent origin from partridge - or pheasant -like birds. The turkeys became larger after their ancestors colonized temperate and subtropical North America , where pheasant-sized competitors were absent. The ancestors of grouse, though, adapted to harsh climates and could thereby colonize subarctic regions. Consequently,
408-1305: The ground. The Barbary partridge takes a wide variety of seeds and some insect food. It usually starts feeding and drinking at dawn. The Barbary partridge is the national bird of Gibraltar where it appears on the 1 pence local coins. Gamebird Phasianiformes Galliformes / ˌ ɡ æ l ɪ ˈ f ɔːr m iː z / is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys , chickens , quail , and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are often reared by humans for their meat and eggs, or hunted as game birds. The order contains about 290 species , inhabiting every continent except Antarctica, and divided into five families : Phasianidae (including chicken, quail, partridges , pheasants , turkeys, peafowl (peacocks) and grouse ), Odontophoridae (New World quail), Numididae (guinea fowl), Cracidae (including chachalacas and curassows), and Megapodiidae (incubator birds like malleefowl and brush-turkeys ). They adapt to most environments except for innermost deserts and perpetual ice. Many gallinaceous species are skilled runners and escape predators by running rather than flying. Males of most species are more colorful than
432-482: The latter islands. It is also present in Sardinia . The Barbary partridge is a rotund bird, with a grey-brown back, grey breast and buff belly. The face is light grey with a broad reddish-brown gorget. It has rufous-streaked white flanks and red legs. When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance on rounded wings. It is closely related to its western European equivalent,
456-566: The main survivors of the K-T Event , that killed off the rest of the dinosaurs. The dominant birds of the dinosaur era were the enantiornithes , toothed birds that dominated the trees and skies. Unlike those enantiornithes, the ancestors of the galliformes were a niche group that were toothless and ground-dwelling. When the asteroid impact killed off all non-avian dinosaurs, and the dominant birds, it destroyed all creatures that lived in trees and on open ground. The enantiornithes were wiped out, but
480-688: The mesites are probably closely related to pigeons and doves . The relationships of the hoatzin are entirely obscure, and it is usually treated as a monotypic order Opisthocomiformes to signify this. The fossil record for the Galliformes is incomplete. Megapodiidae – megapodes (7 genera, 21 extant species) [REDACTED] Cracidae – chachalacas, curassows, guans (11 genera, 57 species) [REDACTED] Numididae – guineafowl (4 genera, 8 species) [REDACTED] Odontophoridae – New World quail (10 genera, 34 species) [REDACTED] Phasianidae – pheasants & allies (54 genera, 188 species) [REDACTED] Galloanserae -like birds were one of
504-552: The order cannot be determined: For a long time, the pheasants, partridges, and relatives were indiscriminately lumped in the Phasianidae, variously including or excluding turkeys, grouse, New World quail, and guineafowl, and divided into two subfamilies – the Phasianinae (pheasant-like forms) and the Perdicinae (partridge-like forms). This crude arrangement was long considered to be in serious need of revision, but even with modern DNA sequence analyses and cladistic methods,
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#1732772056264528-886: The subfamily Phasianini , alongside the true pheasants. Living Galliformes based on the work by John Boyd. Talegalla Leipoa [REDACTED] Alectura Aepypodius [REDACTED] Macrocephalon [REDACTED] Eulipoa [REDACTED] Megapodius [REDACTED] Chamaepetes Penelopina Aburria Penelope [REDACTED] Ortalis [REDACTED] Oreophasis [REDACTED] Nothocrax [REDACTED] Pauxi [REDACTED] Mitu [REDACTED] Crax [REDACTED] Guttera Numida [REDACTED] Acryllium [REDACTED] Agelastes [REDACTED] Ptilopachus [REDACTED] Rhynchortyx [REDACTED] Cyrtonyx [REDACTED] Pheasant Pheasants ( / ˈ f ɛ z ə n t s / FEH -zənts ) are birds of several genera within
552-474: The young. A pheasant's call or cry can be recognised by the fact it sounds like a rusty sink or valve being turned. Pheasants eat mostly seeds, grains, roots, and berries, while in the summer they take advantage of insects, fresh green shoots, spiders, earthworms, and snails. However, as an introduced species, in the UK they are a threat to endangered native adders. The best-known is the common pheasant , which
576-423: Was quite certainly closely related to Galliformes, but whether it was a part of these or belongs elsewhere in the little-known galliform branch of Galloanserae is not clear. However, in 2004, Clarke classified it as a member of the larger group Pangalliformes , more closely related to chickens than to ducks, but not a member of the crown group that includes all modern galliformes. Another specimen, PVPH 237, from
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