Coturnicini is a tribe of birds in the subfamily Phasianinae. It contains the

Old World quail Old World quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds in the tribe Coturnicini of the pheasant family Phasianidae. Although all species commonly referred to as "Old World quail" are in the same tribe, they are paraphyleti ...

, snowcocks, and African spurfowl, among others. Members of this tribe have a wide range throughout

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

, and

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecolo ...

. This tribe contains the only members of Pavoninae native to continental

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

(''

Coturnix ''Coturnix'' is a genus of five extant species and five to eight known extinct species of Old World quail. These species are distributed throughout Africa, Eurasia, Australia, and formerly New Zealand. An extinct radiation of flightless, insul ...

'' and '' Alectoris''), as well as the only members of

Phasianidae The Phasianidae are a family of heavy, ground-living birds, which includes pheasants, partridges, junglefowl, chickens, turkeys, Old World quail, and peafowl. The family includes many of the most popular gamebirds. The family is a large one and i ...

as a whole native to Australasia (''Coturnix'' and ''

Synoicus ''Synoicus'' is a genus of 4 species of Old World quail. The species in the genus are distributed throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, tropical Asia, and Australasia. Two of the four species in the genus were originally classified in ''Excalfactoria' ...

''). This grouping was supported by a 2021 phylogenetic analysis of

Galliformes Galliformes is an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds that includes turkeys, chickens, quail, and other landfowl. Gallinaceous birds, as they are called, are important in their ecosystems as seed dispersers and predators, and are ofte ...

, and has been accepted by the

International Ornithological Congress International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

. The tribe name is accepted by the ''

Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World The ''Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World'' is a book by Richard Howard and Alick Moore which presents a list of the bird species of the world. It was the first single-volume world bird list to include subspecies names, ...

.''

Species

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q16537759 Bird tribes Coturnicini