Buttonquail

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Family of birds

title: "Buttonquail" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["extant-rupelian-first-appearances", "turnicidae"] description: "Family of birds" topic_path: "general/extant-rupelian-first-appearances" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buttonquail" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Family of birds ::

| name = Buttonquail | image = Black-breasted Button-quail male inskip.JPG | image_caption = Black-breasted buttonquail (Turnix melanogaster) | taxon = Turnicidae | authority = Gray, GR, 1840 | type_species = Tetrao gibraltaricus | type_species_authority = Gmelin, 1788 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision = {{linked genus list | Turnix | Bonnaterre, 1791 | Ortyxelos | Vieillot, 1825 }} | range_map = Turnicidae rangmap.PNG | range_map_caption = Distribution of the buttonquails

Buttonquail or hemipodes are members of a small family of ground birds, Turnicidae, in the order Charadriiformes. Despite their name and resemblance, they bear absolutely no taxonomic relationship to Old World quail of the tribe Coturnicini under the order Galliformes, especially smaller species like the king quail (erroneously called "button quail").

There are 18 species in two genera, with most species placed in the genus Turnix and a single species in the genus Ortyxelos. They inhabit warm, tropical grasslands of Asia, Africa, Europe, Australia and New Guinea.

Buttonquails are small running birds that avoid flying. Unusually among bird species, the female is the more richly colored of the sexes. While the quail-plover is thought to be monogamous, Turnix buttonquails are sequentially polyandrous; both sexes cooperate in building a nest in the earth, but normally only the male incubates the eggs and tends the young, while the female may go on to mate with other males.

Taxonomy

The genus Turnix was introduced in 1791 by French naturalist in Pierre Bonnaterre. The genus name is an abbreviation of the genus Coturnix. The type species was subsequently designated as the common buttonquail.

The buttonquail family, Turnicidae, was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray. The buttonquails were traditionally placed in Gruiformes or Galliformes (the crane and pheasant orders). The Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy elevated them to ordinal status as the Turniciformes and basal to other Neoaves either because their accelerated rate of molecular evolution exceeded the limits of sensitivity of DNA–DNA hybridization or because the authors did not perform the appropriate pairwise comparisons or both. Morphological, DNA–DNA hybridization and sequence data indicate that turnicids correctly belong to the shorebirds (Charadriiformes). They seem to be an ancient group among these, as indicated by the buttonquail-like Early Oligocene fossil Turnipax and the collected molecular data.

Description

The buttonquails are a group of small terrestrial birds. The smallest species is the quail-plover, the only species in the genus Ortyxelos, which is 10 cm in length and weighs only 20 g. The buttonquails in the genus Turnix range from 12 to(-) in length and weigh between 30 and(-). They superficially resemble the true quails of the genus Coturnix, but differ from them in lacking a hind toe and a crop. The females of this family also possess a unique vocal organ created by an enlarged trachea and inflatable bulb in the esophagus, which they use to produce a booming call.

Breeding

Buttonquails are unusual in that females are serially polyandrous. The nest is a scape on the ground often near overhanging vegetation. The female lays a clutch of 4 or 5 eggs and then looks for a new mate. The male incubates the eggs which hatch synchronously after 12 to 15 days. The precocial chicks leave the nest soon after hatching and are cared for by the male. They can fly at two weeks of age and become independent at four weeks. For the smaller species sexual maturity is reached at three months.

Species

Family: Turnicidae

Gallery

File:Barred buttonquail Nandihills 18July2006bngbirds.jpg|Barred buttonquail (Turnix suscitator) File:Turnix sylvatica.jpg|Small buttonquail (Turnix sylvatica) File:Paainted Buttonquail kobble08.JPG|Painted buttonquail (Turnix varia) File:Turnix pyrrhothorax.jpg|Red-chested buttonquail (Turnix pyrrhothorax)

References

References

  1. . ["Alcidae"](https://www.aviansystematics.org/4th-edition-checklist?viewfamilies=63). *The Trust for Avian Systematics*.
  2. (1823). "Tableau encyclopédique et méthodique des trois règnes de la nature: Ornithologie". Panckoucke.
  3. Jobling, James A.. (2010). "The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names". Christopher Helm.
  4. (1934). "Check-List of Birds of the World". Harvard University Press.
  5. Gray, George Robert. (1840). "A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus". R. and J.E. Taylor.
  6. Bock, Walter J.. (1994). "History and Nomenclature of Avian Family-Group Names". American Museum of Natural History.
  7. (2003). "RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.
  8. Fain, Matthew G.. (2004). "Parallel radiations in the primary clades of birds". [[Evolution (journal).
  9. Debus, S.J.S.. (1996). "Handbook of the Birds of the World". Lynx Edicions.

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