Guineafowl

This article is about the bird. For other uses, see Guineafowl (disambiguation).

Guineafowl
Helmeted guineafowl (Numida meleagris)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Galliformes
Superfamily: Phasianoidea
Family: Numididae
Longchamps, 1842
Genera

Guineafowl (/ˈɡɪnifaʊl/) (or guineahen) are birds of the family Numididae in the order Galliformes. They are endemic to Africa and rank among the oldest of the gallinaceous birds. Phylogenetically, they branched off from the core Galliformes after the Cracidae (chachalacas, guans, and curassows) and before the Odontophoridae (New World quail). An Eocene fossil lineage Telecrex has been associated with guineafowl; Telecrex inhabited Mongolia, and may have given rise to the oldest of the true phasianids, such as blood pheasants and eared pheasants, which evolved into high-altitude, montane-adapted species with the rise of the Tibetan Plateau. While modern guineafowl species are endemic to Africa, the helmeted guineafowl has been introduced as a domesticated bird widely elsewhere.[1]

Feather of a guineafowl
A flock of guineafowl free-roaming on a ranch in Texas (U.S.)
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Lever was invoked but never defined (see the help page).