Current view: Data table and detailed info
Taxonomic note
Scleroptila psilolaema and S. elgonensis (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously placed in the genus Francolinus and lumped as F. psilolaemus following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).
Usually treated as subspecies of S. psilolaema, but differs in its plain off-white vs black-spotted off-white throat, bordered below by white-spotted black throatband vs no throatband (3); breast rufous with full black spots vs buffy with vague black half-spots (2); belly chestnut intermixed with grey vs creamy-buff with chestnut crescents and chocolate-brown Vs (3); mantle black-spotted rufous-chestnut vs as on rest of upperparts (ns2); blackish of upperparts generally more intense and extensive, thus narrowing the buff barring, notably on wings (ns2). Hunter et al. (2019) supported the split by finding that in advertisement S. psilolaema has ‘a simple series of two-noted calls’ (first note longer and slightly wavering, the second note very short but on the same pitch as the first) uttered in rapid succession with a gap of 0.5 second between calls which gives the series a "jerky nature"', unlike other Scleroptila; S. elgonensis gives a ‘much more complex and rhythmic series of three-note calls’ with ‘both clear, whistle-like sounds and more burry sounds’, the first note complex and relatively long (0.3 s) followed by a pause (0.2 s) and then two very rapid notes, the first short, the second longer; this is similar to the call of Shelley’s Francolin S. shelleyi and Orange River Francolin S. gutturalis. These vocal differences have been confirmed by further analysis (Turner et al. 2020). Hunter et al. (2019) also pointed out that of 14 species in Afro-alpine habitat in Ethiopia and seven in similar habitat in Kenya none possesses a closest relative in the other country, suggesting that northern Kenya has been more of a barrier to than a conduit for species dispersing in either direction. Proposed subspecies theresae (Mt Kenya) synonymised. Monotypic.
Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
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 was reported to be locally common to rare in the 1990s, and currently fairly common within its narrow range (Kirwan et al. 2022, J. Bradley in litt. 2024).
Trend justification: Little is known about the actual demographics of the species' population, but its habitat is undergoing destruction and degradation due to increasing human pressure and subsequent conversion to agriculture, moorland fires and overgrazing from intensive livestock farming (Turner et al. 2020). As the species is dependent on such moorland, it is therefore suspected that the species' population is experiencing a decline in line with the loss of its habitat. Due to lack of information on this species' population size and demography, the rate of decline has not been quantified.
Country/territory distribution
Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Elgon Francolin Scleroptila elgonensis. Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/elgon-francolin-scleroptila-elgonensis on 22/12/2024.
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 22/12/2024.
