Taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of francolins ('Francolinus' spp.) Aves: Order Galliformes, Family Phasianidae

Francolins (Francolinus spp.) are small to medium-sized, sedentary, Old World, partridge/quail-like, terrestrial gamebirds (Order Galliformes) that occupy diverse habitats ranging from dry/open/scrubby lowland and montane grasslands, bushveld and savanna/woodland to mesic montane/lowland forests and forest edges. Some francolins have complex distribution patterns and also are morphologically, ecologically and behaviourally diverse. At the start of this research, Francolinus Stephens, 1819 was considered a monophyletic galliform genus comprising 41 species (36 African and five Asiatic) divided among eight putatively monophyletic species groups and four taxonomically enigmatic species. However, different taxonomic revisions, especially post Hall's (1963) classic monograph, challenged the monophyletic status of the genus and that of some of its designated species groups differed markedly in the number of recognized subspecies. Furthermore, there was debate concerning the geographical origin of the genus: Asia versus Africa. Some of the early molecular research on a few exemplar francolin species based on partial mitochondrial Cytochrome-b DNA sequences and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphisms (RFLPs) also challenged the monophyly of the genus and that of some of Hall's (1963) species groups. These findings suggested that francolins may form at least two distantly related lineages called 'patryse' (partridges) and 'fisante' (pheasants) by Afrikaans-speaking people. Patryse, or 'true' francolins, had been divided into as many as five genera (Francolinus, Ortygornis, Dendroperdix, Peliperdix, Scleroptila) and fisante, or spurfowls, all grouped into a single genus, Pternistis. Research in this thesis is based on: mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (5554 base pairs), organismal and vocal characters of francolins and spurfowls.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Mandiwana-Neudani, Tshifhiwa Gift

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Crowe, Timothy M
• Bowie, Rauri Charles Kerr

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/9295

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/9295