Tetrao

{{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{Redirect|Capercaillie}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Early Pliocene to recent | image = Tetrao urogallus Richard Bartz.jpg | image_caption = Western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus'') | taxon = Tetrao | authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | type_species = ''Tetrao urogallus'' | type_species_authority= Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''Tetrao urogalloides'' ''Tetrao urogallus''}}

'''''Tetrao''''' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as '''capercaillies'''{{needs IPA|date=February 2026}}. They are some of the largest living grouse and can be found in the forested areas of the Eurasian Palearctic.

Feathers from the bird were used to decorate the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation.

==Taxonomy== The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ''Systema Naturae''.<ref name=linnaeus>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title=Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=159 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727066 | archive-date=23 December 2023 | access-date=9 February 2026 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223214031/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727066 | url-status=live }}</ref> The genus name is the Latin word for a game bird, probably a black grouse.<ref>{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | page=383 }}</ref> The black grouse was included by Linnaeus in the genus ''Tetrao'' but is now placed in the genus ''Lyrurus''.<ref name=linnaeus/><ref name=ioc/> The type species was designated as the western capercaillie (''Tetrao urogallus'') by George Robert Gray in 1840.<ref>{{cite book | last=Gray | first=George Robert | author-link=George Robert Gray | year=1840 | title=A List of the Genera of Birds : with an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus | location=London | publisher=R. and J.E. Taylor | page=62 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13668979 | archive-date=21 November 2023 | access-date=9 February 2026 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121075910/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13668979 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=24 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482837 | archive-date=21 November 2023 | access-date=9 February 2026 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231121081010/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482837 | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Species=== The genus contains two extant species:<ref name=ioc>{{cite web | editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=July 2021 | title=Pheasants, partridges, francolins | work=IOC World Bird List Version 11.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/pheasants/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=23 August 2021 | archive-date=5 October 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005084940/https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/pheasants/ | url-status=live }}</ref> {{Species table |genus= Tetrao |authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |species-count=two|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row |name=Western capercaillie |binomial=Tetrao urogallus |image=File:David Palmer Capercaillie.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male |image2=File:Tetrao urogallus - Eurasian Capercaille - Tjäder.jpg|image2-caption=Female |authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original= |range= Europe to western Russia |range-image=File:Western Capercaillie Tetrao urogallus distribution map.png |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Eight subspecies |bullets=on |''T. u. cantabricus'' (Castroviejo, 1967) |''T. u. aquitanicus'' (Ingram, 1915) |''T. u. crassirostris'' (C.L. Brehm, 1831) |''T. u. rudolfi'' (Dombrowski, 1912) |''T. u. urogallus'' (Linnaeus, 1758) |''T. u. karelicus'' (Lönnberg, 1924) |''T. u. lonnbergi'' (Snigirevski, 1957) |''T. u. pleskei'' (Stegmann, 1926) |''T. u. obsoletus'' (Snigerewski, 1937) |''T. u. volgensis'' (Buturlin, 1907) |''T. u. uralensis'' (Nazarov, 1886) |''T. u. taczanowskii'' (Stejneger, 1885) }} }}

{{Species table/row |name=Black-billed capercaillie |binomial=Tetrao urogalloides |image=File:Tetrao urogalloides (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt=|image-caption=Male |image2=File:Tetrao urogalloides kamtschaticus 139103990.jpg|image2-caption=Female |authority-name=Middendorff |authority-year=1853 |authority-not-original= |range= eastern Russia as well as parts of northern Mongolia and China |range-image= |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Two subspecies |bullets=on | ''T. u. kamtschaticus'' (Kittlitz, 1858) | ''T. u. urogalloides'' (nominate) (Middendorff, 1853) }} }} {{Species table/end}}

The fossil record of this genus is extensive:

* †''Tetrao conjugens'' Mourer-Chauvire, 1993 (Early Pliocene of C Europe) * †''Tetrao rhodopensis'' Bojev, 1998 (Early Pliocene of Dorkovo, Bulgaria) * †''Tetrao partium'' Kretzoi, 1962 (Early Pliocene - Early Pleistocene of SE Europe) * †''Tetrao macropus'' Jánossy, 1976 (Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene of Hungary) * †''Tetrao praeurogallus'' Jánossy, 1969 (Early - Middle Pleistocene of E Europe)

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Tetrao Category:Bird genera Category:Birds of Eurasia