Major General James G. Blunt

"Capercaillie" redirects here. For other uses, see Capercaillie (disambiguation).

Tetrao is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation.

Taxonomy

The genus Tetrao was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae.[1] The genus name is the Latin word for a game bird, probably a black grouse.[2] The black grouse was included by Linnaeus in the genus Tetrao but is now placed in the genus Lyrurus.[1][3] The type species was designated as the western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) by George Robert Gray in 1840.[4][5]

Species

The genus contains two species:[3]

Genus Tetrao – Linnaeus, 1758 – two species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Western capercaillie


Male
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Female

Tetrao urogallus
Linnaeus, 1758

Eight subspecies
  • T. u. cantabricus (Castroviejo, 1967)
  • T. u. aquitanicus (Ingram, 1915)
  • T. u. crassirostris (C.L. Brehm, 1831)
  • T. u. rudolfi (Dombrowski, 1912)
  • T. u. urogallus (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • T. u. karelicus (Lönnberg, 1924)
  • T. u. lonnbergi (Snigirevski, 1957)
  • T. u. pleskei (Stegmann, 1926)
  • T. u. obsoletus (Snigerewski, 1937)
  • T. u. volgensis (Buturlin, 1907)
  • T. u. uralensis (Nazarov, 1886)
  • T. u. taczanowskii (Stejneger, 1885)
Europe to western Russia
Map of range 		Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


Black-billed capercaillie

Tetrao urogalloides
Middendorff, 1853

Two subspecies
  • T. u. kamtschaticus (Kittlitz, 1858)
  • T. u. urogalloides (nominate) (Middendorff, 1853)
eastern Russia as well as parts of northern Mongolia and China Size:

Habitat:

Diet: 		 LC 


The fossil record of this genus is extensive:

References

  1. ^ a b Linnaeus, Carl (1758). Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1 (10th ed.). Holmiae (Stockholm): Laurentii Salvii. p. 159.
  2. ^ Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 383. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
  3. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (July 2021). "Pheasants, partridges, francolins". IOC World Bird List Version 11.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
  4. ^ Gray, George Robert (1840). A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus. London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 62.
  5. ^ Peters, James Lee, ed. (1934). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 2. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 24.


source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capercaillie