Tetraonidae

Tétraonidés ( Tetraonidae ) is the name given to the family of birds including/understanding grouse, grouses and grouses. They are birds dodus with the important sexual dimorphism at certain species. Tétraonidés live all in the northern hemisphere, of Spain in the United States, while passing by many countries. They all are adapted to the cold climates of the mountains or the boreal zones.

Biology of Tétraonidés

All Tétraonidés, - that is to say eighteen species - are adapted to a hard Scandinavian or mountain climate, therefore cold areas. They are present in many areas of which southernmost are the Cantabrian Mountains, Balkans, the Caucasus in Texas, and most septentrional are Scandinavia, Siberia and Alaska, while also passing by Kazakstan, Mongolia and Scandinavian China. Their habitats vary according to the various species: alpine lawns, northern forests, tundras or steppes. Tétraonidés heavy, are warmly covered with a plumage to the round forms.

Cold adaptation

The grouse count among the cold most adapted birds: a whole procession of adaptations differentiates them from the other birds which theirs are nevertheless close (partridge, pheasants, ruails…).

Tétraonidés are warmly covered, to resist extremely low temperatures; another specialization of the feathers is the possession of hyporachis (or double-feather), helping them to the maximum.

Their nostrils are emplumées, probably to heat the air inspired. All Tétraonidés (males and females) have a short convex black nozzle, except for the male capercaillie, which is “long” and white.

Their short tarsi (legs) are also emplumés, especially in the grouses in winter, which avoids gelures to them. Pectinations corneas are located on their fingers; these “combs” increase their plantar surfaces and widen in winter in order to serve to them as “rackets” on snow, but also with being better held on icy branches.

The grouses have a seasonal variability of the plumage: white in winter and gray-marbled in summer, it is a rare adaptation in the birds.

Food

See also: avian digestive System

Tétraonidés are mainly herbivorous birds, but their food mode varies according to their age.

  • In summer, the chicks nourish insects and bays, the adults of fruits (bays), seeds and grass.
  • In winter, they nourish needles exclusively, let us châtons and of buds.
  • In spring, the sheets and the buds stripping compose their food.

Tétraonidés have a digestion remarkably adapted to several types of food, of which woody matter (needles). Their intestine is also remarkable in the treatment of cellulose, their cecums are also well developed.

It is in winter, by examining their droppings accumulated under their perches and in their night lodgings which one notices a felting of woody particles. They are invaluable indication of presence being used to determine at the same time the food of the bird and the species.

Reproduction

Tétraonidés are especially known by their parades in love spring.

  • Cocks of heathers and grouse of meadows are polygamous species . Every year, in spring, the males (known as “cocks”) find in cleared zones called “places of song” (known as “English leks”) to sing, to parade then to couple itself with the females (known as “hens”), these species have an important sexual dimorphism whose extremes are the cocks of heathers. After the coupling, the hen only broods and only raises its small.

  • Grouses and grouses is species monogamists . The cock and the hen have connections all the year, the cock take care on its territory and drive out the intruders, they can raise with two their chicks.

The layings are done with ground, hidden in a thicket, with the shelter of predatory. After the blossoming, the mother raises her small before the dispersion of brooded, in autumn.

Hybridizations

It happens that the species living on the same place can couple and give rise to hybrids, sometimes even with other birds the such domestic hen or the pheasant; it is however often when the habitat of the one of the species is very fragmented, that a hen of a species goes on a place of song of another species, or sometimes the opposite.

The most frequent hybrid is the “Rackelhahn” (word of origin Germanic), born from a mother capercaillie and a father black grouse, or vice versa, but there remains rare all the same.

List of the hybridizations rescensées between Tétraonidés:

  • Model: scientific Name of the relative ♂ X Name scientific of the relative ♀ (Author and date)

  • Bonasa umbellus X Falcipennis canadensis (H. Ouellet, 1974)

  • Centrocercus urophasianus X Dendragapus obscurus (Johnsgard, 1983)
  • Centrocercus urophasianus X Tympanuchus phasianellus (C.L. Aldridge, S.J. Oyler-McCance & R.M. Brigham, 2001)
  • Dendragapus obscurus X Centrocercus urophasianus (J.A. Rensel & C. Mr. White, 1988)
  • Dendragapus obscurus X Tympanuchus phasianellus (A. Brooks, 1907)
  • Falcipennis canadensis X Dendragapus obscurus (Mr. Jollie, 1955)
  • Dendragapus obscurus X Bonasa umbellus
  • Lagopus lagopus X Falcipennis canadensis (Taverner, 1932)
  • Lyrurus tetrix X Tetrao urogallus (Klein, 1759) - Rackelhahn
  • Lyrurus tetrix X lagopus lagopus (Macgillivray, 1837)
  • Lyrurus tetrix X Lagopus mutus (Wurm, 1922)
  • Lyrurus tetrix X Tetrastes bonasia (Schaanning, 1916)
  • Tetrao urogallus X Lagopus lagopus (J.A. Grieg, 1889)
  • Tetrao urogallus X Lyrurus tetrix
  • Tetrao urogallus X Tetrao parvirostris (A.C. Vorobiev, 1954)
  • Tetrastes bonasia X Lyrurus tetrix (Collett, 1905)
  • Tympanuchus phasianellus X Tympanuchus cupido (Wilson, 1918)
  • Tympanuchus cupido X Tympanuchus phasianellus (W. Rowan, 1926)
  • Tympanuchus cupido X Tympanuchus pallidicinctus

Classification

  • Grouse, grouses and grouses is gathered in a family with share within the order of Gallinacées: the Tetraonidae (Vigors, 1825).

  • However, since 1970, certain scientists think that Tétraonidés would be a subfamily of Phasianidae (Horsfield, 1821), gathering pheasant, ruails, partridge, turkeys, and perhaps the grouse (see Gray, the first transmitter of this theory).
  • the recent studies now try to determine to which families they belong; one of it, based on the sequences of DNA of the various species, compared with those from other Gallinacées, shows that it would be about a subfamily (R.J. Gutiérrez, G.F. Barrowclough, & J.G. Groth - 2000); the study of Spaulding (2007) gives to believe that it would be about a distinct family including/understanding eighteen species.
  • Alan Peterson, in its list, includes these species in the Phasianidae .
  • “Grouse Specialist Group” recognizes only the family of the Tetraonidae .

The various authors are thus not all of agreement for the classification of Tétraonidés; although they are Tetraonidae , or Phasianidae , they belong to the order of Galliformes (Temminck, 1820).

Subfamilies, tribes and subgroups

Here is recognized the family of the Tetraonidae , it is of course suitable to lower of a row tax them above if one considers the subfamily of the Tetraoninae (either Centrocercini , Tetraonini and Tetrastini ).

  • Family of the Tetraonidae (Vigors, 1825)

  • Centrocercinae : Gathering the kinds Centrocercus , Dendragapus , Lagopus and Tympanuchus (that is to say 9 species)

  • Tetraoninae : Gathering the kinds Falcipennis , Lyrurus and Tetrao (that is to say 6 species)
  • Tetrastinae : Gathering the kinds Bonasa and Tetrastes (that is to say 3 species)

Model of Gutiérrez, Barrowclough & Groth (2000), according to their study based on the sequences of DNA:

  • Family of the Phasianidae , subfamily of the Tetraoninae

  • Tribe of the Bonasini : Gathering the kind Bonasa - 1 species

  • Tribe of the Tetrastini : Gathering the kind Tetrastes - 2 species
  • Tribe of the Tetraonini : Gathering five subgroups:
    • Falcipennina : Gathering the kind Falcipennis - 1 species
    • Canachitina : Gathering the kind Canachites - 1 species
    • Tetraonina : Gathering the kinds Lyrurus and Tetrao - 4 species
    • Centrocercina : Gathering the kinds Centrocercus , Tympanuchus and Dendragapus - 6 species
    • Lagopodina : Gathering the kind Lagopus - 3 species

In spite of this recent study, the majority of the scientists are based on the first classification presented previously.

List kinds and current species

Kind Bonasa (Stephens, 1819) - crested Grouses.

Only one species.

Kind Centrocercus (Swainson, 1832) - Grouse of the armoises.

Two species, from including one recently recognized like species distinct.

  • Species Centrocercus minimus (J.R. Young, E.C. Braun, S.J. Oyler-McCance, J.R. Hupp & T.W. Quinn, 2000) - Grouse of Gunnison (= C. urophasianus minimus ).

Kind Dendragapus (Elliot, 1864) - Grouse dark.

A valid species, divided into two groups, it could indeed act of two species.

  • Species Dendragapus obscurus (Say, 1823) - Tétras sinks.

  • Species Dendragapus fuliginosus (Ridgway, 1873) - fuliginous Grouse (= D. obscurus fuliginosus ).

Kind Falcipennis (Elliot, 1864) - Grouse of savannas.

Three species, of which two could belong to a kind with share ( Canachites ); a species is doubtful. Certain authors report this kind in Dendragapus .

  • Species Falcipennis canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) - Grouse of Canada (= Canachites canadensis ).

  • Species Falcipennis franklinii (Douglas, 1829) - Grouse Franklin (= F. canadensis franklinii ).

Kind Lagopus (Brisson, 1760) - Grouses.

Three species, plus fourth possible.

  • Species Lagopus scoticus (Douglas, 1829) Red grouse (= L. lagopus scotica ).

  • Espèce Lagopus will leucura (Richardson, 1831) - Lagopède with white tail (= L. leucurus ).

  • Espèce Lagopus transferred (Montin, 1781) - alpine Lagopède (= L. mutus ).

Kind Lyrurus (Swainson, 1832) - Black grouses.

Two species, kind sometimes included in Tetrao .

  • Species Lyrurus mlokosiewiczi (Taczanowski, 1875) - Grouse of the Caucasus (= Tetrao mlokosiewiczi ).

  • Species Lyrurus tetrix (Linnaeus, 1758) - Black grouse (= Tetrao tetrix ).

Kind Tetrao (Linnaeus, 1758) - capercaillie.

Standard kind of the family, two species.

Kind Tetrastes (Keyserling & J.H. Blasius, 1840) - Grouses.

Two species, sometimes included in the kind Bonasa .

  • Species Tetrastes bonasia (Linnaeus, 1758) - Hazel grouse (= Bonasa bonasia ).

  • Species Tetrastes sewerzowi (Prjevalsky, 1876) - Grouse of Servertzov (= Bonasa sewerzowi ).

Kind Tympanuchus (Gloger, 1841) - Grouse of meadows.

Three species, of which one could be included in a kind with share and a species being able to be distinct.

  • Species Tympanuchus cupido (Linnaeus, 1758) - Grouse Cupid.

  • Species Tympanuchus pallidicinctus (Ridgway, 1873) - pale Grouse.

  • Species Tympanuchus phasianellus (Linnaeus, 1758) - Grouse with fine tail (= Pedioecetes phasianellus ).

  • Species Tympanuchus pinnatus (Brewster, 1885) - Grouse of meadows (= T. cupido pinnatus ).

Origins

See also: evolutionary History of the birds

  • the first Galliformes would have appeared as of the Eocene, approximately 50 million years ago, in North America, one of the most primitive kinds is Gallinuloides (Eastman, 1900); since, many species populated these grounds, and migrated towards other regions, of which Eurasia.
  • the Phylum of the grouse appears in Miocène with the species Palaealectoris incertus (Wetmore, 1930), of Nebraska (Miocène lower), ``Tympanuchus'' stirtoni (Miller, 1944), of South Dakota (Miocène lower), Archaeophasianus roberti (Stone, 1915) and A. miocaenicus (Shufeldt, 1915) of North America (Miocène higher); it is of these species, also related with the turkeys, which seem to be derived Tétraonidés.
  • One can also note the presence of Rustaviornis georgicus (Burchack-Abramovich & Meladze, 1972) in Georgia (Pliocène lower), which seems close to Tétraonidés.
  • first Tétraonidés seem to be appeared in lower Pliocène in Eastern Europe, pertaining to the kind Tetrao , then at average Pleistocene with the kinds Lagopus and Tetrastes , before migrating towards Asia, then North America.
  • Of paleolithic works was also found, which shows that our ancestors were interested already in these birds, of which an engine out of wooden of reindeer (Farmhouse-with Azil, Ariège) and a engraved roller of the Shelter of Laugerie-Based (the Dordogne) representing cocks of heather.

Fossils of Tétraonidés

  • Dendragapus gilli (Brodkorb, 1964), published under the original name of Palaeotetrix gilli (Shufeldt, 1892), comes from Oregon (higher Pleistocene).

  • Dendragapus lucasi (Jehl, 1969), comes from Oregon (higher Pleistocene).
  • Dendragapus nanus (Jehl, 1969), synonymous with D. lucasi , the same time and comes from the same layer as D. lucasi .

  • Lagopus balcanicus (Boev, 1995) comes from Bulgaria (higher Pleistocene).

  • Lagopus atavus (D. Jánossy, 1974), come from Poland (higher Pleistocene).
  • lagopus lagopus noaillensis (Mourer-Chauviré, 1975), comes from Corrèze (average Pleistocene).
  • Lagopus mutus correzensis (Mourer-Chauviré, 1975), comes from the same place and the same layer as L.L. noaillensis .

  • Lyrurus partium (Kretzoi, 1962), comes from Romania, Hungary and Austria (lower Pleistocene).

  • Lyrurus tetrix longipes (Mourer-Chauviré, 1975), comes from France (average Pleistocene).

  • Tetrao conjugens (D. Jánossy, 1974), come from Poland and Hungary (Pliocène lower).

  • Tetrao macropus (D. Jánossy, 1976), come from Bulgaria (Pliocène lower).
  • Tetrao praeurogallus (D. Jánossy, 1979), come from Hungary, Poland and Romania (lower Pleistocene and means).
  • Tetrao rhodopensis (Boev, 1998), comes from Bulgaria (Pliocène lower).

  • Tetrastes daliannsis (Hou, 1992), comes from the north of China (higher Pleistocene).

  • Tetrastes praebonasia (D. Jánossy, 1974), come from Hungary, France and Poland (average Pleistocene).

  • Tympanuchus lulli (Shufeldt, 1915), comes from the New Jersey (higher Pleistocene).

  • Tympanuchus ceres (Shufeldt, 1915), synonymous with T. lulli , comes from Arkansas (higher Pleistocene).

  • Of many species present still currently has summers found in the deposits of average and higher Pleistocene and of Holocene, one can thus quote the species Bonasa umbellus , Centrocercus urophasianus , Dendragapus obscurus , Falcipennis canadensis , Lagopus lagopus , Lagopus mutus , Lyrurus tetrix , Tetrao urogallus, Tetrastes bonasia , Tympanuchus cupido , Tympanuchus pallidicinctus and Tympanuchus phasianellus .

  • the paleontologists also identified certain possible fossil hybrids between Tétraonidés.

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