Painted buttonquail
species of bird
The painted buttonquail (Turnix varius) is a species of buttonquail, the family Turnicidae, which resemble, but are unrelated to, the quails of Phasianidae. This species is resident in Australia where numbers are believed to be in decline. A subspecies, the Abrolhos painted buttonquail (Turnix varius scintillans), is endemic to the Houtman Abrolhos islands.
Taxonomy
The painted buttonquail was first described by the English ornithologist John Latham in 1801 under the binomial name Perdix varia.
"Painted buttonquail" has been designated the official name by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU).
Two subspecies are recognised.
The possibly-extinct New Caledonian buttonquail (Turnix novaecaledoniae) of New Caledonia was formerly considered a third subspecies, but was split as a distinct species by the IOC in 2021.
Description
The painted buttonquail is about 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long. It is a ground-dwelling bird and is found in grassy forests and woodlands. It feeds on insects and seeds, and the males incubate the eggs for a fortnight and then care for the young.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 2, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q663363. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1801 and 2021.
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This entry incorporates text from “Painted buttonquail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.