| Pternistis | |
|---|---|
 Red-necked Spurfowl (Pternistis afer) | |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Aves |
| Order | Galliformes |
| Family | Phasianidae Perdicinae |
| Genus | Pternistis |
Pternistis is a genus of galliforms birds formerly classified in the francolin group of the partridge subfamily of the Phasianidae family. They are described as "partridge-francolins" in literature establishing their phylogenetic placement outside of the monophyletic assemblage of true francolins. Its 23 species range through Sub-Saharan Africa. They are commonly known as francolins or spurfowl but are closely related to jungle bush quail, Alectoris rock partridges and Coturnix quail. The species are strictly monogamous, remaining mated indefinitely. They procure most of their food by digging. Partridge-francolins subsist almost entirely on roots, beans of leguminous shrubs and trees, tubers, seed, feasting opportunistically on termites, ants, locusts, flowers and fruit. Important predators are jackals, caracals, servals and birds of prey, as well as herons and marabou storks.
Species[]
It contains the following species:
Red-billed Spurfowl (Waterhouse, 1838) (Pternistis adspersus) Red-necked Spurfowl (Müller, 1766) (Pternistis afer) Ahanta Francolin (Temminck, 1851) (Pternistis ahantensis) Double-spurred Francolin (Linnaeus, 1766) (Pternistis bicalcaratus) Mount Cameroon Francolin (Alexander, 1909) (Pternistis camerunensis) Cape Spurfowl (Gmelin, 1789) (Pternistis capensis) Chestnut-naped Francolin (Salvadori, 1888) (Pternistis castaneicollis) Clapperton's Francolin (Children, 1826) (Pternistis clappertoni) Erckel's Francolin (Rüppell, 1835) (Pternistis erckelii) Grey-striped Francolin (Ogilvie-Grant, 1890) (Pternistis griseostriatus) Hartlaub's Spurfowl (Bocage, 1869) (Pternistis hartlaubi) Harwood's Francolin (Blundell & Lovat, 1899) (Pternistis harwoodi) Hildebrandt's Francolin (Cabanis, 1878) (Pternistis hildebrandti) Heuglin's Francolin (Heuglin, 1863) (Pternistis icterorhynchus) Jackson's Francolin (Ogilvie-Grant, 1891) (Pternistis jacksoni) Yellow-necked Spurfowl (Gray, 1867) (Pternistis leucoscepus) Natal Spurfowl (Smith, 1834) (Pternistis natalensis) Handsome Francolin (Reichenow, 1908) (Pternistis nobilis) Djibouti Francolin (Dorst & Jouanin, 1952) (Pternistis ochropectus) Grey-breasted Spurfowl (Reichenow, 1887) (Pternistis rufopictus) Scaly Francolin (Cassin, 1857) (Pternistis squamatus) Swainson's Spurfowl (Smith, 1836) (Pternistis swainsonii) Swierstra's Francolin (Roberts, 1929) (Pternistis swierstrai)