Turnix varius

Geographic Range

Turnix varia and its four subspecies are found throughout northeastern, eastern, and southern Australia, Tasmania (Hindwood, 1966), Kangaroo Island, Abrolhos Islands, and New Caledonia (Johnsgard, 1991).

• Biogeographic Regions
• australian australian
  • native native

Habitat

Painted buttonquail inhabit heatherlands, forest, and timbered ridges where it is dry and scrub is present for shelter.

• Habitat Regions
• temperate temperate
• tropical tropical
• terrestrial terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest forest
• scrub forest scrub forest

Physical Description

As with all buttonquail, these birds lack a hind toe (Hindwood, 1966). Wing length for females is approximately 111.4 mm, and 98.3 mm for males. They weigh 60 to 130 g. The more colorful female is generally black above with rufous barring which turns into chestnut. A dark gray spot on the center of the crown is surrounded by black with gray or rufous colored edging. Sides of the face and throat are white with black spots, and the chin and sides of the throat are white. The back of the neck is gray with terminal black and white spots. Just above the upper wings, the feathers are bright chestnut edged with gray and dotted with black and white. The back, upper wing feathers, rump, and upper tail coverts are gray and edged or barred with black and chestnut, with rufous tips and a submarginal white streak. Primary coverts are blackish-gray. Secondary wing coverts are buff-gray with fine black mottling. The rest of the wing coverts are gray with rufous tips and two or three white dots edged with black. The chest is gray with a pale buff shaft streak ending in a terminal black-edged spot. The breast is buff mottled with grey, and the feathers at the breast margins are chestnut with black-edged whititsh spots terminally. The abdomen and other underparts are pale buff (Johnsgard, 1991).

The male is similar in coloration to the female, except for the rufous area just above the upper wings. In addition, the male has more whitish spotting on his gray chest (Johnsgard, 1991).

The precocial chicks have striped down of buff colors, browns and black (Hindwood, 1966). The immature adults are similar in coloration to the male, except that they have duller plumage (Johnsgard, 1991).

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic endothermic
• bilateral symmetry bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• female larger
• sexes colored or patterned differently

Reproduction

Prior to copulation, the female will run backwards and forwards in front of the male, or circle around him, with her tail erect and her crop puffed out (Johnsgard, 1991). During courtship, the female, faces the male and utters deep booming notes, while she squats with her tail erect and breast expanded almost touching the ground. The male will respond with faint clucking sounds. The female will stomp and scratch the ground and will present the male with food (Hindwood, 1966; Johnsgard, 1991). In addition, the female will defend her breeding territory (Johnsgard, 1991).

All buttonquail are polyandrous.

• Mating System
• polyandrous polyandrous

The breeding season is from September to March, except in Tasmania where the breeding season is from October to December (Johnsgard, 1991). Breeding can occur at other times of the year, depending on local conditions (Hindwood, 1966).

Painted buttonquail nest in a a shallow depression scraped in the ground that is lined with dead grasss and has a small hood. The nest is usually placed under a tuft of grass, a small shrub, or a fallen sapling (Hindwood, 1966).

The male incubates the eggs and attends to the chicks. Three to five eggs (Johnsgard, 1991) are laid by the female; they are 27 by 21 mm and whitish to light buff with dark flecks or spots (Hindwood, 1966). The eggs weigh approximately 3 to 7 g each. The male is the sole incubator, and the eggs hatch in 13 to 15 days. At 16 days the chicks are fully feathered (Johnsgard, 1991).

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous iteroparous
• seasonal breeding seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual sexual
• oviparous oviparous

The male incubates the eggs and attends to the precocial chicks. Three to five eggs (Johnsgard, 1991) are laid by the female; they are 27 by 21 mm and whitish to light buff with dark flecks or spots (Hindwood, 1966). The eggs weigh approximately 3 to 7 g each. The male is the sole incubator, and the eggs hatch in 13 to 15 days. For the first 10 days, the male feed the chicks. After this, the chicks are able to feed themselves (Johnsgard, 1991).

• Parental Investment
• no parental involvement
• precocial precocial
• pre-hatching/birth
  • protecting
    • male
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male

Lifespan/Longevity

We do not have information on lifespan/longevity for this species at this time.

Behavior

Females defend breeding territories.

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• motile motile
• territorial territorial

Home Range

We do not have information on home range for this species at this time.

Communication and Perception

Prior to copulation, the female will run backwards and forwards in front of the male, or circle around him, with her tail erect and her crop puffed out (Johnsgard, 1991). During courtship, the female, faces the male and utters deep booming notes, while she squats with her tail erect and breast expanded almost touching the ground. The male will respond with faint clucking sounds. The female will stomp and scratch the ground and will present the male with food (Hindwood, 1966; Johnsgard, 1991). In addition, the female will defend her breeding territory (Johnsgard, 1991).

• Communication Channels
• visual visual
• acoustic acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual visual
• tactile tactile
• acoustic acoustic
• chemical chemical

Food Habits

Foods eaten include seeds and insects (Hindwood, 1966). Where dead leaf litter is present, painted buttonquail will scratch small circular patches to look for food (Hindwood, 1966; Johnsgard, 1991).

• Primary Diet
• omnivore omnivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Predation

We do not have information on predation for this species at this time.

Ecosystem Roles

Painted buttonquail have an impact on populations of their insect prey and the plants whose seeds they eat.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Painted buttonquail eat insects that may be pests to humans.

• Positive Impacts
• controls pest population

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no known adverse affects of painted buttonquail on humans.

Conservation Status

Painted buttonquail are not listed by either the IUCN or CITES.

Other Comments

The only known captive-bred painted buttonquail were the result of D. Seth-Smith's efforts in 1905 (Hopkinson, 1926; Johnsgard, 1991).

Additional Links

Encyclopedia of Life

Contributors

Alaine Camfield (editor), Animal Diversity Web.

Janice Pappas (author), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

References

Hindwood, K. 1966. Australian Birds in Color . Sydney: A. H. & A. W. Reed.

Hopkinson, E. 1926. Records of Birds Bred in Captivity . London: H.F. & G. Witherby.

Johnsgard, P. 1991. Bustards, Hemiposes and Sandgrouse: Birds of Dry Places . Oxford: Oxford University Press.