Tetraoninae

Lesser prairie chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, copyright Greg Kramos.

Belongs within: Phasianidae.
Contains: Lagopus.

The Tetraonidae are the grouse, a group of gamebirds found primarily in colder parts of Eurasia and North America. Grouse are distinguished from other gamebirds by the presence of feathers on the lower leg. Males of the prairie chickens Tympanuchus and the sage grouse Centrocercus have large inflatable sacs on the neck that are used in mating displays. Members of the genus Tetrao are found in cooler parts of the Palaearctic region; males are mostly black birds with red wattles above the eyes.

Synapomorphies (from Dyke et al. 2003): Distal end of condylus ventralis of humerus greatly extended distally; ischium shallow and wide, relative to width of synsacrum; tarsus partially feathered.

<==Tetraoninae [Tetraonidae, Urogallinae]
    |  i. s.: Canachites canadensis FP64
    |         Lyrurus Swainson 1832 CC10, M02 [Lyrurinae]
    |         Tetrastes Keysserling & Blasius 1840 MMJ03, B94 [Tetrastinae]
    |--Bonasa Stephens 1810 JT12, M02
    |    |--B. bonasia (Linnaeus 1758) M02 (see below for synonymy)
    |    `--B. sewerzowi JT12
    `--+--‘Bonasa’ umbellus JT12
       `--+--+--Lagopus BKB15
          |  `--+--Centrocercus BKB15
          |     |    |--C. minimus JT12
          |     |    `--C. urophasianus JT12
          |     `--+--‘Dendragapus’ obscurus JT12
          |        `--Tympanuchus JT12
          |             |  i. s.: T. stirtoni FP64
          |             |--T. cupido BKB15
          |             |    |--T. c. cupido CC10
          |             |    |--T. c. americanus (Reichenbach 1853) L81, CC10 [=Cupidonia americana CC10]
          |             |    |--T. c. attwateri USDI77
          |             |    `--T. c. pinnatus (Brewster 1885) [=Cupidonia pinnata] CC10
          |             `--+--T. pallidicinctus BKB15
          |                `--T. phasianellus (Linnaeus 1758) BKB15, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
          |                     |--T. p. phasianellus CC10
          |                     `--T. p. columbianus (Ord in Guthrie 1815) (see below for synonymy) CC10
          `--+--+--Falcipennis canadensis BKB15
             |  `--Dendragapus BKB15
             |       |--D. canadensis JT12
             |       |--D. falcipennis JT12
             |       `--D. fuliginosus JT12
             `--Tetrao Linnaeus 1758 JT12, M02 [incl. Urogallus Scopoli 1777 B94]
                  |  i. s.: T. canadensis Linnaeus 1758 L58
                  |         T. cupido Linnaeus 1758 L58
                  |         T. marilandicus Linnaeus 1758 L58
                  |         T. orientalis Linnaeus 1758 L58
                  |         T. urogalloides C01
                  |--+--T. mlokosiewiczi JT12
                  |  `--T. tetrix Linnaeus 1758 JT12, CC10 (see below for synonymy)
                  |       |--T. t. tetrix CC10
                  |       `--‘Lyrurus’ t. britannicus Witherby & Lönnberg 1913 CC10
                  `--+--T. parvirostris JT12
                     `--T. urogallus Linnaeus 1758 JT12, M02 (see below for synonymy)

Bonasa bonasia (Linnaeus 1758) M02 [=Tetrao bonasia M02, Tetrastes bonasia T89; incl. Tetrastes praebonasia Jánossy 1974 M02, B. praebonasia M02, Lagopus voinstvenskii Ganea 1972 M02]

Tetrao tetrix Linnaeus 1758 JT12, CC10 [=Lyrurus tetrix CC10; incl. Lagopus balcanicus Boev 1995 M02, Lyrurus tetrix longipes Mourer-Chauviré 1975 M02, Ly. partium Kretzoi 1962 M02, Tetrao partium M02]

Tetrao urogallus Linnaeus 1758 JT12, M02 [incl. T. conjugens Jánossy 1974 M02, T. macropus Jánossy 1976 M02, T. praeurogallus Jánossy 1969 M02, T. rhodopensis Boev 1998 M02]

Tympanuchus phasianellus (Linnaeus 1758) BKB15, CC10 [=Tetrao phasianellus CC10, Pedioecetes phasianellus CC10]

Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus (Ord in Guthrie 1815) [=Phasianus columbianus, Pedioecetes phasianellus columbianus, Podioecetus (l. c.) columbianus] CC10

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B94] Bock, W. J. 1994. History and nomenclature of avian family-group names. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 222: 1–281.

[BKB15] Burleigh, J. G., R. T. Kimball & E. L. Braun. 2015. Building the avian tree of life using a large-scale, sparse supermatrix. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 53–63.

[CC10] Checklist Committee (OSNZ). 2010. Checklist of the Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands, and the Ross Dependency, Antarctica 4^th ed. Ornithological Society of New Zealand and Te Papa Press: Wellington.

[C01] Csiki, E. 1901. Utivázlat [Reiseskizze]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. xii–xli. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[FP64] Fisher, J., & R. T. Peterson. 1964. The World of Birds: A comprehensive guide to general ornithology. Macdonald: London.

[JT12] Jetz, W., G. H. Thomas, J. B. Joy, K. Hartmann & A. Ø. Mooers. 2012. The global diversity of birds in space and time. Nature 491: 444–448.

[L58] Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae per Regna Tria Naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentii Salvii: Holmiae.

[L81] Long, J. L. 1981. Introduced Birds of the World: The worldwide history, distribution and influence of birds introduced to new environments. Reed: Sydney.

[MMJ03] Mayr, G., A. Manegold & U. S. Johansson. 2003. Monophyletic groups within ‘higher land birds’—comparison of morphological and molecular data. Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 41: 233–248.

[M02] Mlíkovský, J. 2002. Cenozoic Birds of the World. Part 1: Europe. Ninox Press: Praha.

[T89] Takeshita, N. 1989. Nihon no Yachoo. Kogakukan: Tokyo.

[USDI77] USDI (United States Department of the Interior). 1977. Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants—republication of list of species. Federal Register 42: 36420–36431.

Last updated: 15 June 2019.