''Arborophila'' is a bird

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

in the family

Phasianidae Phasianidae is a family (biology), family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, grouse, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, Turkey bird, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular Game (hu ...

. The genus has the second most members within the

Galliformes Galliformes is an order (biology), order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkey (bird), turkeys, chickens, Old World quail, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems ...

after ''

Pternistis ''Pternistis'' is a genus of galliform birds formerly classified in the spurfowl group of the partridge subfamily of the pheasant family. They are described as "partridge-francolins" in literature establishing their phylogenetic placement o ...

'', although ''Arborophila'' species vary very little in bodily proportions with different species varying only in colouration/patterning and overall size. These are fairly small, often brightly marked

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

s found in forest of eastern and southern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. Some species in this genus have small ranges, and are

threatened A threatened species is any species (including animals, plants and fungi) which is vulnerable to extinction in the near future. Species that are threatened are sometimes characterised by the population dynamics measure of ''critical depensatio ...

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...

and hunting.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Arborophila'' was introduced in 1837 by the English naturalist

Brian Houghton Hodgson Brian Houghton Hodgson (1 February 1801 – 23 May 1894) was a pioneer natural history, naturalist and ethnologist working in India and Nepal where he was a British Resident (title), Resident. He described numerous species of birds and mammals fr ...

to accommodate a single species, the

hill partridge The common hill partridge, necklaced hill partridge, or simply hill partridge (''Arborophila torqueola'') is a species of bird in the pheasant family found in Asia. Description Males of the species have ornate patterns and markings, a combina ...

, which is therefore the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name combines the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''arbor'', ''arboris'' meaning "tree" with the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''philos'' meaning "-loving".

Species

While most species in this genus are highly distinctive and their

taxonomic 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme of classes (a taxonomy) and the allocation ...

treatment is settled, there are three complexes where the species limits have not been entirely resolved and to various degrees are disputed: ''A. orientalis–sumatrana–campbelli–rolli'' complex, ''A. cambodiana'' complex, and ''A. chloropus–merlini–charltonii'' complex. ''A. torqueola'' is always called the hill partridge or common hill-partridge, but in all other species "hill" is often disregarded (for example, ''A. rufipectus'' is variously known as the Sichuan hill-partridge or Sichuan partridge). The genus contains 18 species.

Taxonomy

Species

References

Further reading