LC
Scaly Spurfowl Pternistis squamatus



Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Pternistis squamatus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) was previously placed in the genus Francolinus.

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
Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable
- - -

Red List history
Year Category Criteria
2024 Least Concern
2016 Least Concern
2012 Least Concern
2009 Least Concern
2008 Least Concern
2004 Least Concern
2000 Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994 Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988 Lower Risk/Least Concern
Species attributes

Migratory status not a migrant Forest dependency high
Land-mass type Average mass -
Range

Estimate Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident) 8,390,000 km2 medium
Severely fragmented? no -
Population
Estimate Data quality Derivation Year of estimate
Population size unknown - - -
Population trend decreasing - suspected -
Generation length 5.17 years - - -

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common to abundant (del Hoyo et al. 1994, Fuller et al. 2000). This species is considered to have a high dependency on forest habitat, and tree cover is estimated to have declined by 11.7% within its mapped range over the past three generations (Global Forest Watch 2022, using Hansen et al. [2013] data and methods disclosed therein). It is therefore tentatively suspected that this rate of cover loss may have led to a decline of between 1-19% in the species' population size over the same time frame, with a best estimate of reduction being 11-14%.

Trend justification:   .


Country/territory distribution
Country/Territory Presence Origin Resident Breeding visitor Non-breeding visitor Passage migrant
Angola extant native yes
Burundi extant native yes
Cameroon extant native yes
Central African Republic extant native yes
Congo extant native yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the extant native yes
Equatorial Guinea extant native yes
Ethiopia extant native yes
Gabon extant native yes
Kenya extant native yes
Malawi extant native yes
Nigeria extant native yes
Rwanda extant native yes
South Sudan extant native yes
Sudan extant native yes
Tanzania extant native yes
Uganda extant native yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Country/Territory IBA Name

Habitats & altitude
Habitat (level 1) Habitat (level 2) Importance Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial Plantations suitable resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland major resident
Altitude 370 - 4320 m Occasional altitudinal limits  

Utilisation
Purpose Scale
Food - human subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture international

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Scaly Spurfowl Pternistis squamatus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/scaly-spurfowl-pternistis-squamatus 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.