The Zoochat Photographic Guide to the Galliformes

Given how well the recent Anseriformes thread went, I've been thinking that it makes sense to complete the overall Galloansere and tackle the Galliformes next I suspect the level of representation in the gallery for this group will be nowhere as high as was the case for the Anseriformes, of course, but given how popular they are in captive collections - and the attractive appearance of many of the species in question - I imagine we'll nonetheless be doing pretty well for ourselves.

 

GALLIFORMES



This lineage - along with the closely-related Anseriformes, with which the Galliformes are classified within the Galloansere - represents one of the oldest and most well-understood lineages of modern bird; anatomically-modern members of the group were present during the Cretaceous, and these along with the ratites are perhaps the only extant groups of birds which were present prior to the K/Pg Event. Broadly speaking, the taxonomic classification and interrelationships of the various members of this group is rather more stable than is the case with many of the more-derived groups of modern birds, with the only major alteration in taxonomic understanding in recent decades being the recognition that two groups formerly granted family status - the grouses and the peacocks - are nested within the Phasianidae.

As such, the Galliformes is currently recognised to comprise five families:

MEGAPODIIDAE - Megapodes (7 genera, 21 species)

CRACIDAE - Guans, Curassows and Chachalacas (11 genera, 55 species)

NUMIDIDAE - Guineafowl (4 genera, 8 species)

ODONTOPHORIDAE - New World Quails (10 genera, 35 species)

PHASIANIDAE - Pheasants and allies (51 genera, 187 species)
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MEGAPODIIDAE


This family comprises 21 extant species within 7 genera, as follows:

Alectura - Australian Brush-turkey (monotypic)

Aepypodius - Wattled Brush-turkey and Brujin's Brush-turkey (2 species)

Talegalla - Red-billed Brush-turkey and allies (3 species)

Leipoa - Malleefowl (monotypic)

Macrocephalon - Maleo (monotypic)

Eulipoa - Moluccan Scrubfowl (monotypic)

Megapodius - True Scrubfowls (12 species)
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Alectura


Australian Brush-turkey (Alectura lathami)

The range of this species extends throughout eastern Australia, from the northern tip of Cape York Peninsula to east-central New South Wales in the south.

Two subspecies are currently recognised:

A. l. purpureicollis - photo by @Najade



A. l. lathami - photo by @ro6ca66


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Aepypodius


Wattled Brush-turkey (Aepypodius arfakianus)

The range of this species extends throughout the mountains of New Guinea, and also into Misool in the West Papuan Islands and Yapen Island off the northwest coastline of New Guinea.

Two subspecies are recognised:

A. a. arfakianus - photo by @Tomek



A. a. misoliensis - photo by @Tomek




Waigeo Brush-turkey (Aepypodius bruijnii)

Endemic to Waigeo Island, off the northwest coastline of New Guinea.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Talegalla


Red-billed Brush-turkey (Talegalla cuvieri)

The range of this species extends throughout the Vogelkop and Bomberai peninsulas of western New Guinea, and into the West Papuan Islands.

Two subspecies are recognised:

T. c. cuvieri
T. c. granti

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Black-billed Brush-turkey (Talegalla fuscirostris)

The range of this species extends throughout southern New Guinea, and into the Aru Islands.

Four subspecies are recognised:

T. f. meyeri
T. f. occidentis
T. f. aruensis
T. f. fuscirostris

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Collared Brush-turkey (Talegalla jobiensis)

The range of this species extends throughout north-central and eastern New Guinea, and also into Yapen Island.

Two subspecies are recognised:

T. j. jobiensis
T. j. longicaudus

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Leipoa


Malleefowl (Leipoa ocellata)

The range of this species extends in a patchy and fragmented distribution throughout southwest and southern Australia.

Monotypic.

Photo by @WhistlingKite24


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Macrocephalon


Maleo (Macrocephalon maleo)

Endemic to Sulawesi and the offshore Butung Island; absent from the southwest of Sulawesi.

Monotypic.

Photo by @ronnienl


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Eulipoa


Moluccan Scrubfowl (Eulipoa wallacei)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout the Moluccas, and also into Misool in the West Papuan Islands.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Megapodius


Nicobar Scrubfowl (Megapodius nicobariensis)

The range of this species extends throughout the central and southern Nicobar Islands.

Two subspecies are recognised:

M. n. nicobariensis
M. n. abbotti

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Philippine Scrubfowl (Megapodius cumingii)

The range of this species extends throughout the Philippines, and south into the northern coastline of Borneo and offshore islands, much of Sulawesi, and the Togian Islands.

Seven subspecies are recognised:

M. c. dillwyni
M. c. pusillus
M. c. tabon
M. c. talautensis
M. c. sanghirensis
M. c. cumingii - photo by @LaughingDove



M. c. gilbertii


Sula Scrubfowl (Megapodius bernsteinii)

Endemic to the Sula and Banggai Islands.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Tanimbar Scrubfowl (Megapodius tenimberensis)

Endemic to Yamdena in the Tanimbar Islands.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Vanuatu Scrubfowl (Megapodius layardi)

Endemic to central and northern Vanuatu.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Micronesian Scrubfowl (Megapodius laperouse)

The range of this species is restricted to the northern Mariana Islands and the Palau Islands.

Two subspecies are recognised:

M. l. laperouse
M. l. senex

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Tongan Scrubfowl (Megapodius pritchardii)

Endemic to Niuafo’ou in northwest Tonga.

Monotypic.

Photo by @DelacoursLangur




Dusky Scrubfowl (Megapodius freycinet)

The range of this species extends throughout the Moluccas and West Papuan Islands.

Five subspecies are recognised:

M. f. quoyii
M. f. freycinet
M. f. oustaleti
M. f. buruensis
M. f. forsteni

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Biak Scrubfowl (Megapodius geelvinkianus)

Endemic to the islands of Geelvink Bay in northwest New Guinea.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


New Guinea Scrubfowl (Megapodius decollatus)

The range of this species extends throughout northern and eastern New Guinea, and adjacent offshore islands.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Melanesian Scrubfowl (Megapodius eremita)

The range of this species extends throughout the Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Orange-footed Scrubfowl (Megapodius reinwardt)

The range of this species extends patchily from the Lesser Sundas in the west, through the Moluccas, Aru Islands and West Papuan Islands into New Guinea, to the D’Entrecasteaux Islands and Louisiade Archipelago in the east, and south throughout coastal northern Australia and the Cape York Peninsula.

Five subspecies are recognised:

M. r. reinwardt
M. r. macgillivrayi
M. r. tumulus - photo by @LaughingDove



M. r. yorki
M. r. castanonotus - photo by @Hix


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Much appreciated!

 

CRACIDAE


This family comprises 56 extant species within 11 genera, as follows:

Chamaepetes - Black Guan and Sickle-winged Guan (2 species)

Penelopina - Highland Guan (monotypic)

Penelope - True Guans (15 species)

Pipile - Piping-guans (5 species)

Aburria - Wattled Guan (monotypic)

Oreophasis - Horned Guan (monotypic)

Ortalis - Chachalacas (15 species)

Nothocrax - Nocturnal Curassow (monotypic)

Crax - True Curassows (8 species)

Mitu - Alagoas Curassow and allies (4 species)

Pauxi - Helmeted Curassows (3 species)
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Chamaepetes


Black Guan (Chamaepetes unicolor)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout the montane cloud-forests of Costa Rica and western Panama.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Vision




Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout the sub-tropical forests on both slops of the Andes from northwest Colombia in the north to central Bolivia in the south.

Five subspecies recognised:

C. g. sanctaemarthae
C. g. goudotii
C. g. fagani
C. g. tschudii
C. g. rufiventris

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Penelopina


Highland Guan (Penelopina nigra)

The range of this species extends throughout the montane forests of Central America from southern Mexico in the northwest to north-central Nicaragua in the southeast.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Penelope


Band-tailed Guan (Penelope argyrotis)

The range of this species is restricted to the Andes of northeast Colombia and western Venezuela, and adjacent mountain ranges of northern Venezuela.

Three subspecies recognised:

P. a. albicauda
P. a. colombiana - photo by @alexkant



P. a. argyrotis


Bearded Guan (Penelope barbata)

The range of this species is restricted to the western slope of the Andes in southern Ecuador and adjacent northwest Peru.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Baudo Guan (Penelope ortoni)

The range of this species is restricted to the western coastline of Colombia and immediately-adjacent northwest Ecuador.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Andean Guan (Penelope montagnii)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout the Andes from northern Colombia and northwest Venezuela to central Bolivia.

Five subspecies are recognised:

P. m. montagnii
P. m. atrogularis
P. m. brooki
P. m. plumosa
P. m. sclateri

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Marail Guan (Penelope marail)

The range of this species extends from eastern Venezuela into the Guianas, and south into Brazil north of the Amazon River.

Two subspecies are recognised:

P. m. marail
P. m. jacupeba

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Rusty-margined Guan (Penelope superciliaris)

The range of this species extends throughout north-central and eastern Brazil, and south to eastern Bolivia, northeast Argentina, eastern Paraguay and southeast Brazil.

Four subspecies recognised:

P. s. superciliaris - photo by @gentle lemur



P. s. jacupemba
P. s. alagoensis
P. s. major


Red-faced Guan (Penelope dabbenei)

The range of this species is restricted to a narrow strip of the eastern slope of the Andes in southern Bolivia and northwest Argentina.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Spix's Guan (Penelope jacquacu)

The range of this species extends throughout much of the upper reaches of the Amazon Basin and adjacent regions of South America east of the Andes, from central Colombia in the west to Suriname and Guyana in the east, and south to central Bolivia in the west and west-central Brazil in the east.

Four subspecies are recognised:

P. j. granti - photo by @Maguari



P. j. orienticola
P. j. jacquacu - photo by @zoogiraffe



P. j. speciosa - photo by @devilfish




Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout much of Central America, from coastal south Mexico in the north to Panama in the south, and from here west to northern Venezuela and south to western Ecuador and northern Peru.

Three subspecies recognised:

P. p. purpurascens - photo by @mhale



P. p. aequatorialis - photo by @ronnienl



P. p. brunnescens


Cauca Guan (Penelope perspicax)

The range of this species is restricted to a small handful of highly fragmented disjunct populations in the Andes of western Colombia.

Monotypic.

Photo by @alexkant




White-winged Guan (Penelope albipennis)

The range of this species is restricted to a small stretch of northwest Peru.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Dusky-legged Guan (Penelope obscura)

The range of this species represents a pair of highly-disjunct populations; along the eastern slope of the Andes from central Bolivia to northwest Argentina; and from northeast Argentina and adjacent northern Uruguay and southern Paraguay into southern Brazil.

Three subspecies recognised:

P. o. bronzina - photo by @devilfish



P. o. obscura
P. o. bridgesi


White-crested Guan (Penelope pileata)

The range of this species extends throughout much of north-central Brazil south of the Amazon River.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Daniel Sörensen




Chestnut-bellied Guan (Penelope ochrogaster)

The range of this species represents a highly-fragmented distribution of disjunct populations throughout central Brazil.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


White-browed Guan (Penelope jacucaca)

The range of this species is restricted to interior northeastern Brazil.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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Pipile


Trinidad Piping-guan (Pipile pipile)

Endemic to Trinidad; largely restricted to the mountainous northeast.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Blue-throated Piping-guan (Pipile cumanensis)

The range of this species extends throughout southern Venezuela and the Guianas, and into northwestern Brazil and the upper Amazon Basin of central and southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and Peru, and northernmost Bolivia.

Monotypic.

Photo by @ro6ca66




White-throated Piping-guan (Pipile grayi)

The range of this species extends from southeast Peru into north-central and eastern Bolivia, southwest Brazil and northeast Paraguay.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Maguari




Red-throated Piping-guan (Pipile cujubi)

The range of this species extends throughout Amazonian Brazil, and into adjacent regions of northeast Bolivia.

Two subspecies are recognised:

P. c. cujubi - photo by @devilfish



P. c. nattereri


Black-fronted Piping-guan (Pipile jacutinga)

The range of this species extends in a highly-fragmented and patchy distribution of disjunct populations in southeast Brazil, southeast Paraguay and northeast Argentina.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Daniel Sörensen


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Aburria


Wattled Guan (Aburria aburri)

The range of this species extends patchily throughout the northern Andes from western Venezuela in the north to south-central Peru in the south.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Tomek


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Oreophasis

Horned Guan (Oreophasis derbianus)

The range of this species extends patchily from southeast Mexico into southern and central Guatemala.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Daniel Sörensen


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Ortalis


Plain Chachalaca (Ortalis vetula)

The range of this species extends from the extreme south of Texas and immediately-adjacent northeast Mexico, throughout southern and eastern Mexico and patchily into Central America as far south as northwest El Salvador.

Five subspecies are recognised:

O. v. mccalli - photo by @d1am0ndback



O. v. vetula - photo by @zoo_enthusiast



O. v. pallidiventris - photo by @vogelcommando



O. v. intermedia - photo by @Hix



O. v. deschauenseei


Grey-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps)

The range of this species extends throughout Central America from eastern Honduras in the north to southeast Panama in the south, and also into immediately-adjacent northwest Colombia.

Monotypic.

Photo by @ralph




Chestnut-winged Chachalaca (Ortalis garrula)

The range of this species extends throughout much of northwest Colombia.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Rufous-vented Chachalaca (Ortalis ruficauda)

The range of this species extends throughout Venezuela and immediately-adjacent northeast Colombia and the southern Lesser Antilles.

Two subspecies are recognised:

O. r. ruficrissa
O. r. ruficauda

No photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Rufous-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis erythroptera)

The range of this species extends patchily and in a highly-fragmented distribution of disjunct populations through northwest South America, from southwest Colombia in the north to northwest Peru in the south.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Rufous-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis wagleri)

The range of this species extends throughout western Mexico from southern Sonora to northwest Jalisco.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


West Mexican Chachalaca (Ortalis poliocephala)

The range of this species extends throughout western and southern Mexico from central Jalisco to southwest Chiapas.

Monotypic.

Photo by @Malayan Tapir




Chaco Chachalaca (Ortalis canicollis)

The range of this species extends throughout much of south-central South America, from south-central Brazil into eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay and northern Argentina.

Two subspecies are recognised:

O. c. canicollis - photo by @vogelcommando



O. c. pantanalensis


White-bellied Chachalaca (Ortalis leucogastra)

The range of this species extends throughout much of Pacific Central America, from southwest Mexico in the west to northwest Nicaragua in the east.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Colombian Chachalaca (Ortalis columbiana)

The range of this species is restricted to a small region of north-central Colombia.

Monotypic.

Photo by @alexkant




Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata)

The range of this species extends throughout much of the upper Amazon Basin and adjacent regions of northern South America east of the Andes, from south-central Colombia in the north to north-central Bolivia in the south, and east from here into west-central Brazil.

Two subspecies are recognised:

O. g. guttata - photo by @devilfish



O. g. subaffinis


East Brazilian Chachalaca (Ortalis araucuan)

The range of this species is restricted to a narrow coastal band of eastern Brazil.

Monotypic.

Photo by @carlos55




Scaled Chachalaca (Ortalis squamata)

The range of this species extends throughout much of southeast Brazil.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.


Little Chachalaca (Ortalis motmot)

The range of this species extends throughout Venezuela, immediately-adjacent eastern Colombia, and the Guianas, and south into northern and north-central Brazil.

Two subspecies are recognised:

O. m. motmot
O. m. ruficeps

Photo by @vogelcommando




Buff-browed Chachalaca (Ortalis superciliaris)

The range of this species is restricted to a small coastal region of northeast Brazil south of the Amazon Delta.

Monotypic; no photographs of this species are present within the Zoochat gallery.
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