Quaglia pettoblu

Identificazione

Male king quail occur in many colors, including blue, brown, silver, maroon, dark brown, and almost black. They have orange feet that are hard and able to withstand a continuous life on the ground like many other game birds. Females are similar to the males, but do not occur in shades of blue. They can live up to 13 years in captivity but typically only 3–6 years.[citation needed] In the wild. they may live only 1.5 years. The eggs of king quail are a light, creamy-brown colour and slightly pointed at the "top", roughly ovular in shape. Male quail give a descending whistle and a raspy "snoring" call.

Tassonomia

Six subspecies are recognized:<p>The species has had a complex taxonomic history, being classified into the genus Coturnix, then Synoicus, then Excalfactoria. Phylogenetic evidence supports it belonging in an expanded Synoicus that, alongside the blue quail (S. adansonii) also includes the Snow Mountain quail (S. monorthonyx) and brown quail (S. ypsilophorus).<p>The subspecies S. c. victoriae was formerly named C. s. australis (Gould, 1865), but the reclassification of the species into Synoicus caused this designation to be preoccupied by the Australian subspecies of the brown quail (S. y. australis), leading to the epithet being changed to victoriae (Mathews, 1912).

Nome scientifico

Synoicus chinensis

Autorità

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Ordine

Galliformi

Famiglia

Phasianidae

Genere

Synoicus

Areale e habitat

Migrazione

Resident species

Conservazione

King quail are not listed as threatened on the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.<p>This species is listed as threatened on the Victorian Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act (1988). Under this Act, an Action Statement for the recovery and future management of this species has not been prepared.<p>On the 2007 advisory list of threatened vertebrate fauna in Victoria, this species is listed as endangered.

Tendenza della popolazione

stable