Orange River francolin | |
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Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Galliformes |
Family: | Phasianidae |
Genus: | Scleroptila |
Species: | S. gutturalis |
Binomial name | |
Scleroptila gutturalis (Rüppell, 1835) | |
Synonyms | |
Francolinus levaillantoides |
The Orange River francolin (Scleroptila gutturalis) is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae found in grassland and woodland in Africa. [2] In the taxa from the northern part of its distribution (Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Uganda and Kenya), the neck-line does not reach the eye and the belly is whitish. [2] In the southern taxa (Angola, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho) the neck-line reaches the eye and the belly is buff. [2] This has led some authorities to treat them as separate species: The Archer's or acacia francolin (S. gutturalis with subspecies lorti) in the north, and the Orange River francolin (S. levaillantoides with subspecies jugularis) in the south. [2]
Scleroptila gutturalislevalliantoides (Smith, 1836) was made available as levalliantoides. [3] The name is probably misspelled, and can easily be confused with Scleroptila levaillantii . Both are likely named after Francois Levaillant.