Tympanuchus

{{about|the bird|the 1943 film|Prairie Chickens}} {{Short description|Genus of birds}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Less Prairie Chicken pair.jpg | image_caption = Lesser prairie chickens (''T. pallidicinctus''); female on left, male on the right | taxon = Tympanuchus | authority = Gloger, 1841 | type_species = ''Tetrao cupido'' | type_species_authority = Linnaeus, 1758 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''Tympanuchus cupido''<br /> ''Tympanuchus pallidicinctus''<br /> ''Tympanuchus phasianellus'' | synonyms = ''Pedioecetes'' }} '''''Tympanuchus''''' is a small genus of birds in the grouse tribe. They are commonly referred to as '''prairie-chickens'''.

==Taxonomy== The genus ''Tympanuchus'' was introduced in 1841 by the German zoologist Constantin Wilhelm Lambert Gloger for the greater prairie chicken.<ref>{{ cite book | last=Gloger | first=Constantin Wilhelm Lambert | author-link=C. L. Gloger | date=1841 | title=Gemeinnütziges Hand- und Hilfsbuch der Naturgeschichte | volume=1 | language=German | location=Breslau | publisher=A. Schulz | page=396 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13515706 }}</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=41 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482854 }}</ref> The name combines the Ancient Greek ''tumpanon,'' meaning "kettle-drum", with ''ekhō'' meaning "to have".<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=393 | url=https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n393/mode/1up }}</ref>

The genus contains three 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=11 October 2021}}</ref> {{Species table |genus= Tympanuchus |authority-name=Gloger |authority-year=1841 |species-count=three|no-note=y|narrow-percent=75}}

{{Species table/row |name=Sharp-tailed grouse |binomial=Tympanuchus phasianellus |image=File:Sharp-Tailed Grouse (26089894256) (cropped).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes |range= north to Alaska, south to California and New Mexico, and east to Quebec, Canada |range-image=File:Tympanuchus phasianellus map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= LC |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Seven subspecies |bullets=on | ''Tympanuchus phasianellus phasianellus'' | ''Tympanuchus phasianellus kennicotti'' | ''Tympanuchus phasianellus caurus'' | Columbian sharp-tailed grouse (''Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus'') | ''Tympanuchus phasianellus campestris'' | ''Tympanuchus phasianellus jamesi'' | †''Tympanuchus phasianellus hueyi'' }} }}

{{Species table/row |name=Greater prairie-chicken |binomial=Tympanuchus cupido |image=File:Greater Prairie Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) (20163587720).jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Linnaeus |authority-year=1758 |authority-not-original=yes |range= Central U.S., formerly to the Atlantic coast |range-image=File:Tympanuchus cupido map.svg |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= NT |population= |direction= |subspecies={{Collapsible list |expand=yes |title=Three subspecies |bullets=on |Heath hen (''Tympanuchus cupido cupido''; extinct) |Attwater's prairie-chicken (''Tympanuchus cupido attwateri'') | The greater prairie chicken, (''Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus'') }} }}

{{Species table/row |name=Lesser prairie-chicken |binomial=Tympanuchus pallidicinctus |image=File:Lesser Prairie Chicken, New Mexico.jpg|image-size=180px |image-alt= |authority-name=Ridgway |authority-year=1873 |authority-not-original=yes |range= western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle including the Llano Estacado, eastern New Mexico, and southeastern Colorado. |range-image=File:Lesser Prairie Chicken Tympanuchus pallidicinctus distribution map 3.png |range-image-size=180px |size= |habitat= |hunting= |iucn-status= VU |population= |direction= |subspecies= }} {{Species table/end}}

All three are among the smaller grouse, from {{cvt|40|to|43|cm}} in length. They are found in North America in different types of prairie. In courtship display on leks, males make hooting sounds and dance with the head extended straight forward, the tail up, and colorful neck sacs inflated (shown in the photograph at upper right). ''Tympanuchus'' comes from Ancient Greek roots and means "holding a drum"; it refers to the membranous neck sacs and the drum-like call of the greater prairie chicken.

The two prairie chickens are particularly closely related and look extremely similar. But their taxonomy and the evolutionary relationships of the ''Tympanuchus'' are yet to be discovered. There is still unknown information about these genera. But one thing we do know is that ''Tympanuchus'' are polyphyletic. They have a strong sexual selection (Galla, 2013).

They are commonly seen in the North American Prairies (Galla, 2013).

The extinct heath hen of the American East Coast, usually considered a subspecies of the greater prairie chicken, has been considered a separate species.

== Uses == An Englishman visiting the United States in the 1850s reported that prairie hens taste "like pheasants in flavour, but the flesh is the colour of grouse."<ref>{{Cite web |date=1857 |title=In memoriam. A selection from the letters of the late John Ashton Nicholls. Ed. by his mother |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012361807&seq=196 |access-date=2025-03-24 |website=HathiTrust |pages=174 |language=en}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}} * Galla, S. J. (2013). Exploring the evolutionary history of north american prairie grouse using multi-locus coalescent analyses (Order No. 1524962). * {{cite book | last = Holloway | first = Joel Ellis | year = 2003 | title = Dictionary of Birds of the United States: Scientific and Common Names | publisher = Timber Press | pages = 206 | isbn = 0-88192-600-0}} * Peterson, Alan P. (Editor). 1999. [http://www.zoonomen.net ''Zoological Nomenclature Resource'' (Zoonomen)]. Accessed 2007-07-29. * {{cite book | author=Sibley, David | author-link=David Allen Sibley | title=The Sibley Guide to Birds | publisher=Knopf | year=2000 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/sibleyguidetobir00sibl_0/page/146 146–147] | isbn=0-679-45122-6 }} * {{cite book | last = Storch | first = Ilse | author2 = Bendell, J. F. | year = 2003 | title = Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds | chapter = Grouse | editor = Christopher Perrins | editor-link = Christopher Perrins | pages = [https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/184 184–187] | publisher = Firefly Books | isbn = 1-55297-777-3 | chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/fireflyencyclope0000unse/page/184 }}

Category:Tympanuchus Category:Bird genera