Elevated spurfowl and francolin taxa: recent research and a request for photographs

May, 2020

Elgon Francolin (S. elgonensis) ©Callan Cohen

The Galliformes comprise nine major groups of terrestrial gamebirds: megapodes, cracids, guineafowl, grouse, turkeys, pheasants, partridges (including francolins and spurfowl), Old World and New World quails. Recent studies have suggested that pheasants, partridges, quails, spurfowl and francolins are not natural evolutionary groups but rather mosaics of evolutionarily unrelated species; even the best-known gamebird and the wild ancestor of the domestic chicken, the Junglefowl Gallus gallus, has been moved on the gamebird evolutionary tree from the pheasants to a branch including a mix of francolins and partridges (Crowe et al. 2006). Traditionally, the francolins were classified with partridges in the tribe Perdicini within the family Phasianidae, although the only anatomical feature that supports this grouping is that they all have 14 tail feathers. The 41 francolin species, 36 from Africa and five from Asia, were all usually placed in the genus Francolinus but we now know that they comprise two quite distinct lineages, the spurfowl and true francolins, which differ in plumage, escape behaviour and vocalisations: francolins have quail-like upperparts while spurfowl have streaked or vermiculated back feathers, francolins typically crouch and sit tight before flushing when disturbed while spurfowl tend to run for cover, and francolins have musical whistling calls while spurfowl have raucous crowing or cackling calls. Mandiwana-Neudani et al. (2019a) support the four sub-groups historically recog-nised within the spurfowl (bare-throated, montane, scaly and vermiculated) within one genus, Pternistis, increasing the currently recognised number of species by two to 25 but reducing the number of subspecies from 59 to 16. The two new species (Table 1) are Schuett’s Spurfowl P. schuetti, formerly the Scaly Spurfowl subspecies P. squamatus schuetti, occurring in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and eastern Africa (less vermiculated than P. s. squamatus, the scaly pattern on the lower neck less clearly defined, and each feather with a deep red-brown centre) and Cranch’s Spurfowl P. cranchii, formerly the Red-necked Spurfowl subspecies P. afer cranchii, distributed across the southern DRC, northern Angola, northern Zambia, Malawi and east Africa. The Red-necked Spurfowl retains three subspecies, P. a. afer, humboltii and castaneiventer, distributed along the lower Cunene River bordering Namibia and Angola in the west, and down eastern Tanzania, Mozambique and eastern South Africa in the east. Mandiwana-Neudani et al. (2019b) also support the four traditional sub-groups of francolins, but in four proposed genera, i.e. spotted Francolinus, striated Ortygornis, red-tailed Campocolinus (see Crowe et al. in press) and red-winged Scleroptila, but separating the red-tailed Forest Francolin lathami into a fifth genus Peliperdix; also, the Ring-necked Francolin is shifted from the striated group to the red-winged group as Scleroptila streptophora. Mandiwana-Neudani et al. (2019b) recommend elevating 14 francolin subspecies to species level (Table 1) and lumping others into more inclusive subspecies, leaving only 14 in contrast to 52 previously. The eastern and southern

Table 1. Newly elevated spurfowl and francolin species

Scientific name	English name	French name
Scaly spurfowl group
Pternistis schuetti	Schuett’s Spurfowl	Pseudofrancolin de Schuett
Bare-throated spurfowl group
P. cranchii	Cranch’s Spurfowl	Pseudofrancolin de Cranch
Striated francolin group
O. rovuma	Kirk’s Francolin	Francolin de Kirk
Ortygornis grantii	Grant’s Francolin	Francolin de Grant
Red-tailed francolin group
Campocolinus dewittei	Chestnut-breasted Francolin	Francolin à poitrine marron
C. spinetorum	Pale-bellied Francolin	Francolin à ventre pâle
C. maharao	Bar-bellied Francolin	Francolin à ventre rayé
C. hubbardi	Plain-bellied Francolin	Francolin à ventre uni
C. thikae	Thika Francolin	Francolin de Thika
C. stuhlmanni	Stuhlmann’s Francolin	Francolin de Stuhlmann
Red-winged francolin group
Scleroptila crawshayi	Crawshay’s Francolin	Francolin de Crawshay
S. elgonensis	Elgon Francolin	Francolin du Mont Elgon
S. gutturalis	Archer’s Francolin	Francolin d’Archer
S. jugularis	Kunene Francolin	Francolin de Kunene
S. uluensis	Ulu Francolin	Francolin d’Ulu
S. whytei	Rufous-throated Francolin	Francolin à gorge rousse

 

 

African Crested Francolin Ortygornis sephaena is split into three species. The Kunene Francolin Scleroptila jugularis is split from the Orange River Francolin, which retains two subspecies S. l. levaillantoides and S. l. pallidior. Archer’s Francolin S. gutturalis in East Africa is supported as a full species. Crawshay’s Francolin S. crawshayii from north of the Zambezi River is split from the Red-winged Francolin S. levaillantii, which now becomes a southern African endemic. The Coqui Francolin complex in the new genus Campocolinus (Crowe et al. in press) has five newly elevated species: Pale-bellied C. spinetorum, Bar-bellied C. maharao, Plain-bellied C. hubbardi, Thika C. thikae and Stuhlmann’s C. stuhlmanni, while retaining four subspecies C. coqui coqui, C. c. ruahdae, C. c. vernayi and C. c. kasaicus. Chestnut-breasted Francolin C. dewittei is split from the White-throated Francolin C. albogularis, Elgon Francolin Scleroptila elgonensis is elevated from Moorland Francolin S. psilolaema, and Ulu Francolin S. uluensis and Rufous-throated Francolin S. whytei from Shelley’s Francolin S. shelleyi. To assist with documenting these new spurfowl and francolin species, I would greatly appreciate receiving high-resolution photographs of the taxa listed in Table 2. Please share this request with colleagues and friends. I can receive email-attached photos of up to 10 MB, or file transfer facilities such as WeTransfer or Dropbox can be used.

Table 2. Taxa for which photographs are sought, particularly those in bold type.

	Range
Spurfowl
Scaly P. squamatus	Nigeria to Central African Republic and DRC
Francolins
Kirk’s O. rovuma (crested type)	coastal Tanzania and Kenya,
particularly O. r. spilogaster	E Ethiopia
Grant’s O. grantii (crested type)	W Ethiopia
Chestnut-breasted P. dewittei	W Zambia, central Angola
White-throated P. albogularis	Senegambia
Bar-bellied C. maharao (coqui type)	Ethiopia, far northern Kenya
Thika C. thikae (coqui type)	S-central Kenya (Tsavo NP area)
Pale-bellied C. spinetorum (coqui-type)	W Africa
Stuhlmann’s C. stuhlmanni (coqui type)	E Zambia, central Tanzania
Coqui C. c. ruhdae (coqui type)	Uganda
Ulu S. uluensis (Shelley’s type)	W Tanzania, SW Kenya
Finsch’s S. finschi	Angola, Gabon, DRC
Ring-necked S. streptophora	Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, W Kenya, NW Tanzania

References

CROWE, T.M., BOWIE, R.C.K., BLOOMER, P., MANDIWANA, T.G., HEDDERSON, T.A.J., RANDI, E., PEREIRA, S.L. & WAKELING, J. (2006) Phylogenetics, biogeography and classification of, and character evolution in, gamebirds (Aves: Galliformes): effects of character exclusion, data partitioning and missing data. Cladistics 22: 1-38.

CROWE, T.M., MANDIWANA-NEUDANI, T., DONSKER, D.B., BOWIE, R.C.K. & LITTLE, R.M. (in press) Resolving nomenclatural ‘confusion’ vis-à-vis Latham’s Francolin (Francolinus/Peliperdix/Afrocolinus lathami) and the ‘Red-tailed’ francolins (Francolinus/Ortygornis/Peliperdix spp.). Ostrich 91(2).

MANDIWANA-NEUDANI, T.G., LITTLE, R.M., CROWE, T.M. & BOWIE, R.C.K. (2019a) Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of African spurfowls Galliformes, Phasianidae, Phasianinae, Coturnicini: Pternistis spp. Ostrich 90: 145–172.

MANDIWANA-NEUDANI, T.G., LITTLE, R.M., CROWE, T.M. & BOWIE, R.C.K. (2019b) Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of ‘true’ francolins: Galliformes, Phasianidae, Phasianinae, Gallini; Francolinus, Ortygornis, Afrocolinus gen. nov., Peliperdix and Scleroptila spp. Ostrich 90: 191–221.