Pteroclidae

Belongs within: Columbaves.

The Pteroclidae, sandgrouse, are pigeon-like birds with long, pointed wings and tails found in arid regions of Eurasia and Africa. Sandgrouse have thick skins and very short legs that are feathered right down to the toes (Austin 1961). Flocks of sandgrouse can often be found at waterholes, where they often drink after wading into the water. The feathers on their underside absorb water that they carry away for their young.

Living species have usually been divided between the genera Syrrhaptes and Pterocles based on whether the toes themselves are feathered or not, respectively, but the monophyly of the latter genus is uncertain. Fossil pteroclids are represented by the genus Archaeoganga in the Eocene or Oligocene of Quercy in France (Mlíkovský 2002).

Pteroclidae [Pterocleidae, Pterocleiformes, Pterocletes, Pterocletidae, Pteroclididae, Pterocliformes]
    |--Leptoganga Mourer-Chauviré 1993M05
    |    `--*L. sepultus (Milne-Edwards 1869) [=Pterocles sepultus]M02
    |--Gerandia Lambrecht 1933M02
    |    `--*G. calcaria (Milne-Edwards 1869) [=Columba calcaria]M02
    |--Archaeoganga Mourer-Chauviré 1992M05
    |    |--*A. pinguis Mourer-Chauviré 1992M02
    |    |--A. larvatus (Milne-Edwards 1892) [=Pterocles larvatus]M02
    |    `--A. validus (Milne-Edwards 1892) [=Pterocles validus]M02
    `--Pterocles Temminck 1815B94
         |  i. s.: P. alchata (Linnaeus 1766) [=Tetrao alchata, Pterochlurus alchatus]CC10
         |           |--P. a. alchataRN72
         |           `--P. a. caudacutusRN72
         |         P. burchelliJT12 [incl. P. burchelli delabati Winterbottom 1964B93]
         |         P. decoratusJT12
         |         P. exustusJT12
         |           |--P. e. exustusL81
         |           `--P. e. hindustanL81
         |         P. indicusJT12
         |         P. lichtensteiniiJT12
         |         P. personatusJT12
         |         P. quadricinctusJT12
         |         P. senegallusJT12
         |--P. coronatusBKB15
         `--+--P. namaquaBKB15
            `--+--P. bicinctusBKB15
               `--+--+--P. gutturalis Smith 1836BKB15, ME04
                  |  `--P. orientalisBKB15
                  `--Syrrhaptes Illiger 1811BKB15, B94 [Syrrhaptidae]
                       |--S. paradoxusBKB15
                       `--S. tibetanusJT12

*Type species of generic name indicated

References

Austin, O. L., Jr. 1961. Birds of the World: A survey of the twenty-seven orders and one hundred and fifty-five families. Paul Hamlyn: London.

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

[B93] Brooke, R. K. 1993. Annotated catalogue of the Aves type specimens in the South African Museum. Annals of the South African Museum 102 (10): 327–349.

[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.

[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.

[M05] Mayr, G. 2005. The Paleogene fossil record of birds in Europe. Biological Reviews 80: 515–542.

[ME04] Mayr, G., & P. G. P. Ericson. 2004. Evidence for a sister group relationship between the Madagascan mesites (Mesitornithidae) and the cuckoos (Cuculidae). Senckenbergiana Biologica 84 (1–2): 1–17.

[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. London, Blandford Press.