Marbled Wood Quail

About the Marbled Wood Quail

The marbled wood quail (Odontophorus gujanensis), also known as the Amazonian wood quail, is a species of bird in the New World quail family. It has an extensive distribution in Central America and the northern part of South America. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

The marbled wood quail was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other quail like birds in the genus Tetrao and coined the binomial name Tetrao gujanensis. Gmelin based his description on the Comte de Buffon's "Le Tocro ou Perdrix de la Guyane" and John Latham's "Guiana partridge". The marbled wood quail is now placed with around 14 other species in the genus Odontophorus that was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot. The genus name Odontophorus is from Ancient Greek meaning "bearing teeth", from odous "tooth" and pherō "to carry". The specific epithet gujanensis means "from the Guianas".

Eight subspecies are recognised: O. g. castigatus Bangs, 1901 – southwest Costa Rica and northwest Panama O. g. marmoratus... Wikipedia →