Birds Guide

Plains Wanderer Conservation status: Endangered
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia   Phylum: Chordata   Class: Aves   Order: Charadriformes   Family: Pedionomidae Bonaparte, 1856 Genus: Pedionomus   Species: P. torquatus
Binomial name
Pedionomus torquatus Gould, 1841

The Plains Wanderer, Pedionomus torquatus, is a unique bird and is put in a family of its own. It is endemic to Australia.

It was formerly believed to be related to the buttonquails and thus placed in the gamebird order Galliformes or with the cranes and rails in Gruiformes, but DNA analysis shows it to be a wader related to the jacanas.

This is a quail-like ground bird, measuring 15–19 cm. The adult male is light brown above, with fawn-white underparts with black crescents. The adult female has a distinctive white-spotted black collar.

This bird is officially an endangered species. Population decline has been caused by the conversion of native grasslands to cultivation.

References

• BirdLife International (2006). Pedionomus torquatus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes a range map, a brief justification of why this species is endangered, and the criteria used