Coturnix

Belongs within: Phasianidae.

Coturnix, the Old World quails, is a genus of small, short-tailed, often cryptically coloured gamebirds. They are relatively strong long-distance fliers, and include the only migratory phasianids. Authors have differed whether the blue quails, with more colourful males, should be included in Coturnix or a distinct genus Excalfactoria. The Madagascar partridge Margaroperdix madagascariensis may also fall within this cluster. It is larger than other species currently placed in Coturnix and males have a distinctive colour pattern with black and white stripes on the head and a black and white-spotted underbelly. The swamp quail C. ypsilophora of Tasmania and the brown quail C. australis of mainland Australia and New Guinea are uniformly brownish birds that are most commonly found in damp, grassy habitats

Characters (Madge & McGowan 2002): Bill slender; tail with 8-12 insignificant feathers, concealed by the coverts; outer primaries markedly long; tarsi unspurred.

<==Coturnix Bonnaterre 1791CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    |  i. s.: C. cambaiensisE42
    |         C. coromandelica (Gmelin 1789) [=Tetrao coromandelicus]CC10
    |         C. delegorgueiJT12
    |         C. longipes (Milne-Edwards 1869) (see below for synonymy)M02
    |--+--C. australis (Latham 1802)BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    |  `--C. ypsilophora Bosc 1792BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
    `--+--Margaroperdix madagascariensisBKB15
       `--+--+--C. coturnix (Linnaeus 1758)BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |  |    |--C. c. coturnixL81
          |  |    |--C. c. africanaL81
          |  |    `--C. c. confisaRN72
          |  `--C. japonicaBKB15 [=C. coturnix japonicaL81]
          `--+--C. novaezelandiae Quoy & Gaimard in Dumont d’Urville 1830BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
             `--C. pectoralis Gould 1837BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)

Coturnix Bonnaterre 1791^CC10 [=Ortyx Chenu & des Murs 1854 non Stephens 1819^B94; incl. Palaeoperdix Milne-Edwards 1869^M02, Synaecus Agassiz 1846^CC10, Synoicus Gould 1843^CC10, Ypsilophorus Mathews 1912^CC10, Zecoturnix Iredale & Mathews 1926^CC10; Coturnicini, Ortygini]

Coturnix australis (Latham 1802)^{BKB15, CC10} [=Perdix australis^CC10, C. ypsilophora australis^CC10, *Synaecus australis^CC10, Synoecus (l. c.) australis^CC10, *Synoicus ypsilophorus australis^{CC10, WS48}, *Ypsilophorus australis^CC10; incl. C. australis mungi Mathews 1912^WS48, C. australis rogersi Mathews 1912^WS48]

Coturnix coturnix (Linnaeus 1758)^{BKB15, CC10} [=Tetrao coturnix^CC10, *Ortyx coturnix^B94; incl. *Coturnix communis^CC10, Scolopax ghardalamensis Fischer & Stephan 1974^M02]

Coturnix longipes (Milne-Edwards 1869) [=*Palaeoperdix longipes, Palaeortyx longipes; incl. Palaeocryptonyx gaillardi Ennouchi 1930, Proalector gaillardi, Palaeortyx phasianoides grivensis Ballmann 1969 non Lydekker 1893, Palaeortyx intermedia Ballmann 1969]^M02

Coturnix novaezelandiae Quoy & Gaimard in Dumont d’Urville 1830^{BKB15, CC10} [=C. novaezealandiae^CC10, *Zecoturnix novaezelandiae^CC10; incl. C. novaezealandiae pounami Mathews 1944^CC10]

Coturnix pectoralis Gould 1837^{BKB15, CC10} [=C. novaezelandiae pectoralis^S90; incl. C. pectoralis praetermissa Mathews 1912^WS48]

Coturnix ypsilophora Bosc 1792^{BKB15, CC10} [=C. ypsilophorus^CC10, Synoicus ypsilophorus^CC10; incl. Synoicus diemenensis Gould 1847^CC10, Synoecus (l. c.) diemenensis^CC10]

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[E42] Ewer, W. 1842. List of a collection of birds from India. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 10: 91–93.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[L81] Long, J. L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World: The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Reed: Sydney.

Madge, S., & P. McGowan. 2002. Pheasants, Partridges and Grouse: A guide to the pheasants, partridges, quails, grouse, guineafowl, buttonquails and sandgrouse of the world. Christopher Helm: London.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[RN72] Rutgers, A., & K. A. Norris (eds.) 1972. Encyclopaedia of Aviculture vol. 1. Blandford Press: London.

[S90] Storr, G. M. 1990. Birds of Shark Bay area, Western Australia. In: Berry, P. F., S. D. Bradshaw & B. R. Wilson (eds) Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe Bicentenary Expedition Committee pp. 299–311. Western Australian Museum.

[WS48] Whittell, H. M., & D. L. Serventy. 1948. A systematic list of the birds of Western Australia. Public Library, Museum and Art Gallery of Western Australia, Special Publication 1: 1–126.