Phasianinae

The Phasianinae (Horsfield, 1821) are a subfamily of the pheasant family (Phasianidae) of landfowl, the order Galliformes. The subfamily includes true pheasants, tragopans, grouse, turkey and similar birds.^[1] Although this subfamily was considered monophyletic and separated from the partridges, francolins, and Old World quails (Perdicinae) till the early 1990s,^[1][2] molecular phylogenies have shown that this placement is paraphyletic. For example, some partridges (genus Perdix) are more closely affiliated to pheasants, whereas Old World quails and partridges from the genus Alectoris are closer to junglefowls.^[3][4] There are two clades in the Phasianinae: the erectile clade and the non-erectile clade, referring to erectile tissue in the non-feathered parts of the face. Both clades are believed to have diverged during the early Oligocene, about 30 million years ago.^[5]

Phasianinae
Erectile clade: represented by a Mongolian ringneck-type common pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) cock
Nonerectile clade: represented by an Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) peacock
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Subfamily:	Phasianinae Horsfield, 1821
Type genus
Phasianus Linnaeus, 1758
Genera
See text

The Phasianinae are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism, males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments, such as wattles and long tails. Males are usually larger than females and have longer tails. Males play no part in rearing the young. They typically eat seeds and some insects.

Genera in taxonomic order

This list is ordered to show presumed relationships between species. Tribes and subfamily names are based on the 4th edition of the Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. Genera without a tribe are considered to belong to tribe incertae sedis.^[6][7]

"Erectile clade"

Image	Tribe	Genera
	incertae sedis	Lerwa (snow partridge)
	incertae sedis	Ithaginis (blood pheasant)
	Lophophorini	Tragopan (tragopans) Tetraophasis (monal-partridges) Lophophorus (monals)
	incertae sedis	Pucrasia (koklass pheasant)
	Tetraonini	Meleagris (turkeys) Bonasa (ruffed grouse) Tetrastes (hazel grouse) Centrocercus (sage-grouse) Dendragapus (blue grouse) Tympanuchus (prairie-chickens and sharp-tailed grouse) Lagopus (ptarmigans) Falcipennis (Siberian grouse) Canachites (spruce grouse) Tetrao (capercaillies) Lyrurus (black grouse)
	incertae sedis	Rhizothera (long-billed partridges)
	incertae sedis	Perdix (true partridges)
	Phasianini	Syrmaticus (long-tailed pheasants) Chrysolophus (ruffed pheasants) Phasianus (true pheasants) Catreus (cheer pheasant) Crossoptilon (eared pheasants) Lophura (gallopheasants)

"Non-erectile clade"

Image	Tribe	Genera
	Pavonini	Rheinardia (crested arguses) Argusianus (great argus) Afropavo (African peafowl) Pavo (Asiatic peafowl)
	incertae sedis	Polyplectron (peacock-pheasants)
	incertae sedis	Haematortyx (crimson-headed partridge)
	incertae sedis	Tropicoperdix
	incertae sedis	Galloperdix (Asian spurfowl)
	Gallini	Bambusicola (bamboo partridges) Gallus (junglefowl, including the domestic chicken) Peliperdix (Latham's francolin) Ortygornis Francolinus Campocolinus Scleroptila
	Coturnicini	Tetraogallus (snowcocks) Ammoperdix (see-see and sand partridges) Synoicus Margaroperdix (Madagascar partridge) Coturnix (typical Old World quails) Alectoris (rock partridges) Perdicula (bush-quails) Ophrysia (Himalayan quail) Pternistis (partridge-francolins; African spurfowls)

References

1. Johnsgard, P. A. (1986). The Pheasants of the World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
2. Johnsgard, P. A. (1988). The Quails, Partridges, and Francolins of the World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
3. Kimball, R. T.; Braun, E. L.; Zwartjes, P. W.; Crowe, T. M.; Ligon, J. D. (1999). "A molecular phylogeny of the pheasants and partridges suggests that these lineages are not monophyletic". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 11 (1): 38–54. Bibcode:1999MolPE..11...38K. doi:10.1006/mpev.1998.0562. PMID 10082609.
4. Kimball, Rebecca T.; Braun, Edward L. (2014). "Does more sequence data improve estimates of galliform phylogeny? Analyses of a rapid radiation using a complete data matrix". PeerJ. 2: e361. doi:10.7717/peerj.361. PMC 4006227. PMID 24795852.
5. "Galliformes". bird-phylogeny (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-01.
6. Kimball, Rebecca T.; Hosner, Peter A.; Braun, Edward L. (2021-05-01). "A phylogenomic supermatrix of Galliformes (Landfowl) reveals biased branch lengths". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 158: 107091. Bibcode:2021MolPE.15807091K. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107091. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 33545275. S2CID 231963063.
7. "H&M4 Checklist family by family - The Trust for Avian Systematics". www.aviansystematics.org. Retrieved 2022-08-04.