Red-necked Spurfowl (Pternistis afer) [XC892134]
by Marc Anderson from Kafue National Park, Zambia (alarm call)
Red-necked Spurfowl (Pternistis afer) [XC739961]
by Peter Boesman from Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda (call)
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with Yellow-necked Francolin (Pternistis leucoscepus), Grey-breasted Francolin (Pternistis rufopictus) and Swainson's Francolin (Pternistis swainsonii), although Swainson's Francolin (Pternistis swainsonii) sometimes excluded because of overlap with present species. Recently proposed reorganization of Francolinus places present species in genus Pternistis with 23 other species. Several other subspecies have been described, but doubtfully valid: loangwae included in melanogaster; and intercedens in cranchii; validity of several of the subspecies currently accepted is also doubtful. Subspecies cranchii (incorporating leucoparaeus and harterti) has been separated as distinct species. Nominate afer hybridizes with Yellow-necked Francolin (Pternistis leucoscepus) near Harare, north-eastern Zimbabwe.
The following 7 subspecies are recognised:
cranchii (Leach, 1818) - Western Congo east to eastern Africa, around L Victoria, and south to north-eastern Zambia.
harterti Reichenow, 1909 - Around northern shore of L Tanganyika in Ruzizi Valley, Burundi, and north-eastern Tanzania and eastern Zaire.
leucoparaeus (Fischer, GA & Reichenow, 1884) - Kenya, from R Tana to Tanzanian border.
afer (Müller, 1776) - Western Angola and extreme north-western Namibia.
melanogaster Neumann, 1898 - Mozambique (north of R Zambezi), eastern Tanzania and eastern Zambia.
swynnertoni Sclater, WL, 1921 - South-eastern Zimbabwe east to central Mozambique (south of R Zambezi).
castaneiventer Gunning & Roberts, 1911 - South Africa, from southern and eastern Cape Province east to R Limpopo.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet