Red-necked spurfowl
| Red-necked spurfowl | |
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| P. a. cranchii in Masai Mara | |
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| Species: | P. afer
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| Binomial name | |
| Pternistis afer (Müller, 1766)
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The red-necked spurfowl or red-necked francolin (Pternistis afer), is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds.
Range and status
The red-necked spurfowl breeds across the central belt of Africa and down the east coast to South Africa. Widespread and common throughout its large range, the red-necked spurfowl is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
Description
It is 25–38 cm in length, with a significant size difference between the subspecies, of which there are some seven or eight. It is a generally dark francolin, brown above and black-streaked grey or white underparts. The bill, bare facial skin, neck and legs are bright red.
Habits
The red-necked spurfowl is a wary species, keeping to deep cover, although it sometimes feeds in open scrub or cultivation if disturbance is limited and there are thickets nearby. The nest is a bare scrape, and three to nine eggs are laid.
Races
Many races have been described. Most of them are subsumed under 7 to 8 taxa, but these differ depending on the author:[1][2]
- P. a. cranchii (Leach, 1818) – Lake Victoria basin southwards to Zambia, the Angolan interior & northern Malawi
- P. a. leucoparaeus (G. A. Fischer & Reichenow, 1884) – southeastern Kenya
- P. a. harterti Reichenow, 1909 – Rwanda, Burundi to northern Tanzania
- P. a. loangwae C.H.B.Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1934 – eastern Zambia & Malawi
- P. a. melanogaster Neumann, 1898 – Tanzania & Zambia to northern Mozambique
- P. a. swynnertoni W.L.Sclater, 1921 – eastern Zimbabwe & central Mozambique
- P. a. afer (Statius Müller, 1776) – western Angola & northwestern Namibia
- P. a. lehmanni Roberts, 1931 – Limpopo and Mpumalanga, South Africa
- P. a. castaneiventer Gunning & Roberts, 1911 – eastern South Africa
- P. a. notatus Roberts, 1924 – Western Cape, South Africa
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P. a. harterti
Reichenow, 1909 -
P. a. loangwae
C.H.B.Grant & Mackworth-Praed, 1934 -
P. a. swynnertoni
Sclater, 1921 -
P. a. castaneiventer
Gunning & Roberts, 1911 -
P. a. notatus
Roberts, 1924
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References
- ^ McGowan, P.J.K.; Kirwan, G.M. (2013). "Red-necked Francolin (Pternistis afer)". Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ Chittenden, H.; et al. (2012). Roberts geographic variation of southern African birds. Cape Town: JVBBF. pp. 40–41. ISBN 978-1-920602-00-0.
- Template:IUCN2006
- Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse by Madge and McGowan, ISBN 0-7136-3966-0
External links
- (Red-necked spurfowl = ) Red-necked francolin - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
- BirdLife Species Factsheet
- IUCN Red List