Family TURNICIDAE G.R. Gray, 1840

Museums

Regional Maps

• Turnicinae Gray, G.R. 1840. A List of the Genera of Birds, with an indication of the typical species of each genus. London : R. & J.E. Taylor viii 80 pp. [Date published Apr 1840: published before Apr.] [63] [original spelling; By monotypy and tautonomy. Turnicidae G. R. Gray, 1840 (1831) (Turnix Bonnaterre, 1791) conserved in preference to Ortygidae Bonaparte, 1831 (Ortygis Illiger, 1811 = Turnix) [Art. 40(b)].

  Type genus:

   Turnix Bonnaterre, 1790.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [140].
• Ortyginae Bonaparte, C.L. 1831. Saggio di una distribuzione metodica degli animali vertebrati. Giornale Arcadico di Scienze Lettere ed Arti 49: 3-77 [55] [objective synonym; a junior synonym of Turnix Bonnaterre, 1791].

  Type genus:

   Ortygis Illiger, 1811.

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [140].
• Hemipodiidae Hogg, J. 1846. On the classification of birds, and particularly on the genera of European birds. Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal 41: 50-72.

  Type genus:

   Hemipodius Temminck, C., 1815 [a junior synonym of Turnix Bonnaterre, 1791].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [140]; Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281.
• Ortyxelidae Le, Maout, E. 1852. Histoire naturelle des oiseaux survant la classification de M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire. Paris : L. Curmer pp. xlviii + 428.

  Type genus:

   Ortyxelos Vieillot, 1825.

  Secondary source:

   Bock, W.J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1-281 [136].
• Hemipodidiidae Fürbringer, M. 1888. Untersuchungen zur Morphologie und Systematik der Vögel zugleich ein Beitrag zur Anatomie der Stütz- und Bewegunsgorgane. Amsterdam : Tj. Van Holkema Vol. 2 xlix 1751 pp., 30 pls. [subsequent misspelling].

  Type genus:

   Hemipodius Temminck, C., 1815 [a junior synonym of Turnix Bonnaterre, 1791].

  Secondary source:

   Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [140].

Taxonomic Decision for Synonymy

• Brodkorb, P. 1967. Catalogue of fossil birds. Part 3 (Ralliformes, Ichthyornithiformes, Charadriiformes). Bulletin of the Florida State Museum 11(3): 99-220 [140]

Introduction

This quail-like family has been relegated to various Orders and family associations over a long period. It currently resides within the Turniciformes following recent studies based on the study of DNA analysis. It is a family restricted to tropical and warm temperate parts of the Old World (Africa, Madagascar, the Iberian Peninsula, through the Middle East, Southeast Asia including The Philippines, southern China, the Indonesia archipelago to New Guinea and Australia) with a limited number of specimens from New Caledonia. Habitat preferences tend towards open forest, marshy flats and grassland, although one species (Turnix melanogaster) inhabits a rainforest — wet sclerophyll forest ecotone. Movements of some species following prevailing weather conditions and food availability are well established, but these are mostly non-migratory. Turnicids are reluctant to fly and often run rather than fly; if pushed to flight it is of a weak whirring nature.

The family includes two genera with 16 species, seven of which occur in Australia, where six are endemic. While resembling true quail in appearance, turnicids differ in that they lack a hallux. With few exceptions most have cryptic plumage with buff-brown, more patterned above with cinnamon, greys and creams. The wings are short, rounded and arched, while the legs are strong, being longer than true quail. In all species the tail is short and almost filamentous. Bill shape varies, being short and thin in most, heavy and laterally compressed in others; this bill arrangement is associated with the feeding characteristics of each species. Unlike true quail a crop is absent.

The Turnix group occur in singles or pairs, sometimes in small family groups of up to 15–30 individuals; they are usually secretive avoiding detection by using a skulking run. They feed on seeds and invertebrates taken from the ground, one distinctive feeding action is by pivoting on one foot while scratching with the other; this platelet feeding method is caused by the bird using alternate feet.

Females dominate in behaviour and they also exhibit sexual dimorphism: the females being slightly larger and brighter than males. Being polyandrous, she courts several males during the breeding period and establishes and holds a large territory by repeatedly producing a resonant, low-pitched booming. Prior to departure, the female assists the male in nest construction. For this the female has developed an expansion within the trachea, the bulbous portion of the oesophagus, thereby elevating the sound. During courtship the pugnacious females vigorously defend territory against other females.

Typically nests are placed on the ground and consist simply of a pad of dry grass and dead leaves situated in a slight depression under a grass tussock or may be a domed structure concealed under grass, often with a runway to the entrance. Males singly incubate the clutch, usually 3-4 eggs and also raise the young. Eggs are short-oval to pyriform in shape, of glossy appearance and have a pale base colour of white to buff; they are speckled and/or blotched with shades of grey and olive. Incubation takes 12–13 days. Nidifugous on hatching, the young leave the nest almost immediately. The nestlings are downy and camouflaged in patterns of black and rufous. Although young are able to fend for themselves, the male will assist them in feeding. These precocial young have an accelerated growth rate and are independent of the parent; they are able to fly after two weeks.

General References

Huxley, T.H. 1868. On the classification and distribution of the Alectoromorphae and Heteromorphae. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London [1868]: 294-319

Ogilvie-Grant, W.R. 1889. On the Genus Turnix. Ibis 31(4): 446–475

Paton, T.A., Baker, A.J., Groth, J.G. & Barrowclough, G.F. 2003. RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within Charadriiform birds. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 268-278

Sibley, C.G. & Ahlquist, J.E. 1990. Phylogeny and Classification of Birds. A Study in Molecular Evolution. New Haven : Yale University Press xxiii 976 pp.

History of changes