Chestnut-backed Buttonquail

About the Chestnut-backed Buttonquail

The chestnut-backed buttonquail (Turnix castanotus) is a species of bird in the family Turnicidae. It is endemic to Australia. John Gould described the species in 1840, from a specimen collected by Benjamin Bynoe, ship's surgeon of HMS Beagle, from northwestern Australia, as Hemipodius castanotus. English zoologist George Gray placed it in the genus Turnix in 1870. William Robert Ogilvie-Grant corrected the name to Turnix castanonota in 1889. Three subspecies were described by Gregory Mathews, but all are now considered as invalid and merely individual variants.

"Chestnut-backed buttonquail" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). The species name is derived from the Ancient Greek words kastanon "chestnut" and noton "back". Gould called it "chestnut-backed hemipode" in 1848, noting the colonists called it "thick-billed quail". The buttonquail species were generally known as "quail" (hence "chestnut-backed quail" ) until the RAOU promoted the current usage of "buttonquail" in 1978, which was then universally adopted.

Native to northern Australia, the species ranges from the Dampier... Wikipedia →