Bonasa
| Bonasa | |
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| Female Ruffed Grouse (B. umbellus) | |
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| Genus: | Bonasa |
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Tetrastes Keyserling & J. H. Blasius, 1840 | |
Bonasa is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily. It contains three species:
- Hazel Grouse, Bonasa bonasia
- Severtzov's Grouse, Bonasa sewerzowi
- Ruffed Grouse, Bonasa umbellus
All three live in forests with at least some conifers in cool regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The two Old World species, the Hazel Grouse of northern Eurasia and Severtzov's Grouse of mountains in central China, are particularly closely related and are sometimes separated as a genus Tetrastes[1]. The Ruffed Grouse lives in the northern United States and southern Canada.
Bonasa is derived from bonasus, Latin for the European Bison, from Ancient Greek bonasos (βονασος), apparently because the drumming sounds these birds make were thought to resemble the bellowing of bovines.[2]
Two fossil species have been described.[3] Though Ruffed Grouse relatives might theoretically at one time have crossed into Asia via Beringia, the comparatively recent age of the fossils suggests that they were close relatives – probably even direct ancestors – to the two Eurasian species of our time.
- Bonasa dalianensis (Early/Middle Pleistocene of Talien, China)
- Bonasa praebonasia (Middle Pleistocene of C Europe)
References
- ^ Peterson, Alan P. "Birds of the World -- current valid scientific avian names". Retrieved 2009-07-20.
- ^ Holloway, Joel Ellis (2003). Dictionary of Birds of the United States: Scientific and Common Names. Timber Press. p. 39. ISBN 0-88192-600-0. Retrieved 2009-02-19.
- ^ Zlatozar, B (2001-09-11), "Tetraonidae V IGORS, 1825 (Galliformes – Aves) in the Neogene-Quaternary record of Bulgaria and the origin and evolution of the family" (PDF), Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia (45): 263–282
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