''Galloperdix'' is a

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 ...

of three

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of bird in the pheasant 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 ...

. These

terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth, as opposed to extraterrestrial. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on o ...

birds are restricted to the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, with the red spurfowl and

painted spurfowl The painted spurfowl (''Galloperdix lunulata'') is a bird of the phasianidae, pheasant family found in rocky hill and scrub forests mainly in peninsular India. Males are more brightly coloured and spotted boldly in white. Males have two to four s ...

in forest and scrub in India, and the Sri Lanka spurfowl in forests of Sri Lanka. They share the common name "spurfowl" with the members of the genus ''

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 ...

'' which are widely distributed in Africa. Galloperdix spadicea MWNH 1094

Taxonomy

The genus ''Galloperdix'' was introduced in 1845 by the English zoologist

Edward Blyth Edward Blyth (23 December 1810 – 27 December 1873) was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Asiatic Society, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He set about updating the museum ...

to accommodate a single species, the red spurfowl, 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 word ''gallus'' for a "farmyard cock" with ''perdix'' meaning "partridge". The genus ''Galloperdix'' is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to the genus ''

Polyplectron The peacock-pheasants are a bird genus, ''Polyplectron'', of the family Phasianidae, consisting of eight species. They are colored inconspicuously, relying heavily on crypsis to avoid detection. When threatened, peacock-pheasants will alter thei ...

'' and together they form a clade that is sister to ''

Haematortyx The crimson-headed partridge (''Haematortyx sanguiniceps'') is a species of bird in the pheasant, partridge, and francolin family Phasianidae. Described by the British ornithologist Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1879, it is the only species in the ...

''. The genus contains three species: * Red spurfowl ''Galloperdix spadicea'' *

Painted spurfowl The painted spurfowl (''Galloperdix lunulata'') is a bird of the phasianidae, pheasant family found in rocky hill and scrub forests mainly in peninsular India. Males are more brightly coloured and spotted boldly in white. Males have two to four s ...

''Galloperdix lunulata'' * Sri Lanka spurfowl ''Galloperdix bicalcarata''

References

Bird genera Taxa named by Edward Blyth {{Galliformes-stub