Nahan's Francolin

SCI Name:  Ptilopachus nahani
Protonym:  Francolinus nahani Ann.Mus.CongoZool. (4) 1 fasc.1 p.17 pl.10
Taxonomy:  Galliformes / Odontophoridae / Ptilopachus
Taxonomy Code:  nahfra2
Type Locality:  Popoie, Aruwimi River, Belgian Congo.
Author:  Dubois, AJC
Publish Year:  1905
IUCN Status:  Vulnerable

DEFINITIONS

PTILOPACHUS
(Odontophoridae; Ϯ Stone Partridge P. petrosus) Gr. πτιλον ptilon  feather; παχυς pakhus  thick, dense; “Ptilopachus, Sw.  Bill small, slender.  Nostrils naked, very large, occupying one half the length of the bill.  Wings rounded.  Tail broad, rounded, larger and longer than in Perdix; the feathers very soft.  Feathers of the back and rump with the shafts thickened, and apparently spinous, as in Ceblepyris.  Tarsus shorter than the middle toe.  Lateral toes nearly equal.  Africa and India.    P. erythrorynchus.  West. Af. ii.” (Swainson 1837); "Ptilopachus Swainson, Classif. Bds., 2, 1837, p. 344. Type, by monotypy, Ptilopachus erythrorhynchus Swainson = Tetrao petrosus Gmelin." (Peters 1934, II, 104). The Stone Partridge and Nahan's Forest Partridge P. nahani were formerly considered Afrotropical members of the Phasianidae, but recent genetic investigations have revealed their true association with the American quails, wood quails and bobwhites.
Var. Ptilopachys, Ptilophachus.
Synon. Acentrortyx, Petrogallus.

nahani
Capt. Paul François Joseph Nahan (1867-1930) Belgian Army in the Congo, explorer, collector (Ptilopachus).