Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic note
Previously (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) listed as Dendroperdix sephaena, before which it was placed in Francolinus, but moved to current genus following Kimball et al. (2021). Believed to hybridize extensively with Pternistis swainsonii in Limpopo Province of N South Africa (Engelbrecht and Grosel 2007). Subspecies rovuma has been considered a separate species, but differences from others are rather few and not great (underparts sparsely but entirely spotted, whereas spotting in other taxa stops at breast); it hybridizes extensively with spilogaster in Kenya, a tendency sometimes attributed to anthropogenic habitat loss. Additional proposed subspecies are somaliensis (here included in spilogaster), schoanus, ochrogaster and delutescens (synonymized with grantii), jubaensis (subsumed within rovuma), thompsoni, chobiensis and mababiensis (in zambesiae) and zuluensis (in nominate). Some uncertainty about ranges of different subspecies in Horn of Africa, with division between spilogaster and grantii in Ethiopia not known, and some suggestions that in Somalia grantii or rovuma or both may occur, whereas others place all Somalian populations in resurrected subspecies somaliensis (Ash and Miskell 1998). Five subspecies recognised.
Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2022. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip.
IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Red List history
| Migratory status |
not a migrant |
Forest dependency |
low |
| Land-mass type |
|
Average mass |
- |
Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be locally common to abundant throughout its range (del Hoyo et al. 1994). The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.
Trend justification: The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Crested Francolin Ortygornis sephaena. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/crested-francolin-ortygornis-sephaena on 26/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 26/12/2024.
