The plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) is a bird, the only representative of family Pedionomidae and genus Pedionomus. It is endemic to Australia. Its historic range included much of eastern Australia, including Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory, but in recent years, it has become endangered with remaining known populations concentrated in the Riverina region of New South Wales and western Queensland.[2]
The plains-wanderer is a quail-like ground bird, measuring 15–19 cm. It is such an atypical bird that it is placed in an entire family of its own, Pedionomidae. The adult male is light brown above, with fawn-white underparts with black crescents. The adult female is substantially larger than the male, and has a distinctive, white-spotted black collar. They have excellent camouflage and will first hide at any disturbance. If approached too closely, they will run rather than fly, at which they are very poor. Females lay four eggs, which the male then incubates.[3]
It was formerly believed to be related to the buttonquails and thus placed in the gamebird order Galliformes or with the cranes and railsinGruiformes. DNA–DNA hybridization and RAG-1sequence data places it as a wader related to the jacanas.[4][5][6][7] It thus represents a remarkable case of morphological convergence, or perhaps it is simply extremely plesiomorphic in morphology (the buttonquails, meanwhile, having turned out to be a very basal offshoot of the wader radiation). In the latter case, this would mean that the jacanas, painted snipe and seedsnipes—all ecologically very different birds—all evolved from birds very similar to the living plains-wanderer.
A crucial aspect of Plains-wanderer conservation is their habitat needs. They require grasslands with both open and denser vegetation for foraging and roosting, which is essential for their survival and recovery.[10]
A captive population was established in late 2018 within a purpose-built facility containing 30 aviaries at Taronga Western Plains ZooinDubbo. These captive individuals will form an insurance population as part of a breed-and-release program to support the wild population, as part of the national conservation plan for the species.[13]
^Baker-Gabb, David; Antos, Mark; Brown, Geoff (2016). "Recent decline of the critically endangered Plains-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus), and the application of a simple method for assessing its cause: major changes in grassland structure". Ecological Management & Restoration. 17 (3): 235–242. Bibcode:2016EcoMR..17..235B. doi:10.1111/emr.12221. ISSN1442-8903.
^"Plains-wanderer". Important Bird Areas. BirdLife International. 2012. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
Paton, T. A.; Baker, A. J.; Groth, J. G. & Barrowclough, G. F. (2003): "RAG-1 sequences resolve phylogenetic relationships within charadriiform birds". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution29: 268–278. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(03)00098-8; PMID13678682 (HTML abstract).
