The Abrolhos Painted-Buttonquail (''Turnix varius scintillans'') is a subspecies of the painted buttonquail endemic to the

Houtman Abrolhos The Houtman Abrolhos (often called the Abrolhos Islands) is a chain of 122 islands and associated coral reefs in the Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia about west of Geraldton, Western Australia. It is the southernmost true coral r ...

. It was formerly common on

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

but is now presumed extinct there and also occurs on other islands of the

Wallabi Group The Wallabi Group is the northernmost group of islands in the Houtman Abrolhos off the western coast of Western Australia. it is from the Australian mainland, and about from the Easter Group. The group consists of a numb ...

, namely East Wallabi, West Wallabi,

Seagull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...

and

Pigeon Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...

Islands.

Taxonomy

The first recorded sighting of the bird by Europeans was during the third voyage of HMS ''Beagle''. On 22 May 1840, the crew of the ship landed at North Island, which

John Lort Stokes Admiral John Lort Stokes (1 August 1811 – 11 June 1885) was a Royal Navy officer who served onboard for almost eighteen years.Although 1812 is frequently given as Stokes's year of birth, it has been argued by author Marsden Hordern that Stok ...

described thus: Five years later, the subspecies was formally published by

John Gould John Gould (; 14 September 1804 – 3 February 1881) was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould (illustrator), Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, includ ...

Description

It lives amongst dunes and sand flats covered with '' Spinifex'',

saltbush Saltbush is a vernacular plant name that most often refers to ''Atriplex'', a genus of about 250 plants distributed worldwide from subtropical to subarctic regions. ''Atriplex'' species are native to Australia, North and South America, and Eurasia. ...

and

samphire Samphire is a name given to a number of succulent salt-tolerant plants (halophytes) that tend to be associated with water bodies. * Rock samphire ('' Crithmum maritimum'') is a coastal species with white flowers that grows in Ireland, the Uni ...

, and avoids areas of

limestone pavement A limestone pavement is a natural karst landform consisting of a flat, incised surface of exposed limestone that resembles an artificial Sidewalk, pavement. The term is mainly used in the UK and Ireland, where many of these landforms have devel ...

. It obtains food such as

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s and

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s by scratching in the surface soil, but also will collect scraps it can find. It breeds from April to October. Its nest is a scrape in loose soil about ten centimetres wide and two centimetres deep, beneath vegetation. The species matures at one year and has a

longevity Longevity may refer to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is defined Statistics, statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth ...

of nine years.

Conservation status

In 2003 it was assessed as "fauna which is rare, or likely to become extinct" under the WA ''

Wildlife Conservation Act 1950 The ''Wildlife Conservation Act 1950'' is an act of the Western Australian Parliament that provides the statute relating to conservation and legal protection of flora and fauna. Text was copied from this source, which is available under Attrib ...

''. Islands where it breeds are considered to have a high conservation value.

Rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus ''Rattus''. Other rat genera include '' Neotoma'' (pack rats), '' Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

s and

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

s have been introduced to the ecosystem which may pose a threat to the population. A 2018 study ranked it fifth in a list of Australian birds most likely to go extinct.PDF
/ref> the subspecies is listed as " vulnerable" under the federal

EPBC Act The ''Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999'' (Cth) is an Act of the Parliament of Australia that provides a framework for protection of the Australian environment, including its biodiversity and its natural and cult ...

(last updated 16 July 2000, due for reassessment 30 October 2022), and

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

under the ''

Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016 (WA) The ''Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016'' is a state-based act of parliament in Western Australia (WA). It came into force on 1 January 2019. This Act 2016 and its Regulations replace the '' Sandalwood Act 1929'' and the ''Wildlife Conservati ...

''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4669562 Birds of Western Australia Houtman Abrolhos Turnicidae Taxa named by John Gould